UNSC debates Israeli advancement of 2,500 settler homes
Just last month, the UNSC passed Resolution 2334 calling on Israel to cease such activity, noting that it was illegal.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFUpdated: JANUARY 26, 2017 12:10A laborer works on an apartment building under construction in the Har Homa quarter in Jerusalem(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Untied Nations Security Council on Wednesday debated Israel’s announcement that it planned to advance the construction of 2,500 West Bank settler homes, the bulk of which will be in the settlement blocs.Sweden’s Ambassador to the UN, Olof Skoog, who is also the UNSC President, gave an informal briefing to the press as he explained that the council took no action and did not issue any statement.Speaking solely as the representative of his country, he said he believed that Israel’s actions should be “condemned.”“We are talking about an awful lot of units and in contested territory. This is of great concern to us and we are not the only ones that are concerned” because unilateral actions by Israel as seen this week “threaten the peace process,” he said.Netanyahu: Israel to reassess UN ties after settlement voteThe speakers who addressed the council, he continued, sought ways to minimize the effects of such unilateral action.Skoog explained that the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolay Mladenov, had given the council an update on Israeli actions on the ground in the West Bank.Just last month, the UNSC passed Resolution 2334 calling on Israel to cease such activity, noting that it was illegal.The United States is one of five UNSC members with the ability to veto UNSC action, but last month, under the Obama Administration, it merely abstained from the vote.Any further UNSC action would need the tacit or complete support of the newly installed Trump administration. Prior to his inauguration, US President Donald Trump spoke out against Resolution 2334.On Wednesday, Israel took action on 73% of the listed 2,500 settler homes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman promised to advance and authorize, the nongovernmental group Peace Now reported.“Today, implementation of the announcement has begun with the promotion of a total of 1,846 housing units,” it said.The Housing Ministry approved tenders for 723 of the homes, including 552 in the Givat Ze’ev settlement, 90 in Ma’aleh Adumim, 78 in Alfei Menashe and 3 in Ariel.It noted that the tenders would mostly likely be published in February and March.Separately, it said the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Committee advanced plans for 1,123 units, including 839 units in the Ariel settlement, 20 in Beit El, 260 in Tzufin and four in Oranit.The committee also took action on a project that had not been on Netanyahu and Liberman’s list: the advancement of plans to legalize the Horesh Yaron outpost, which houses an educational facility for teenagers. Located near the Talmon settlement, it was first built in 1996 with NIS 50,000 from the Construction Ministry.Peace Now charged: “Netanyahu is taking advantage of the presidential transition in the United States in order to appease the settlers, a small minority of the Israeli public, and score political points with his right flank. Instead of jeopardizing the two-state solution, it is time for Netanyahu to take responsibility for the future of Israel by halting settlement construction and assuring the future of Israel as both Jewish and democratic.”The United Nations and the European Union condemned Tuesday’s announcement at a time when the international community is taking a harsher stance against Israeli settlement activity.The announcement comes as Netanyahu is under fire from right-wing lawmakers for not taking action to move forward an agenda to annex Ma’aleh Adumim and/or Gush Etzion in the first days of the Trump administration.The list, which the right wing viewed as conservative, did little to earn Netanyahu points with the settler community, which noted that the plans on the list represent projects that were already in the pipe line and which in many cases had been advanced in the last year.The list also focused for the most part on projects within the blocs, with the bulk of the building going to Ariel, the fourth-largest settlement in the West Bank, and Givat Ze’ev, which is the largest.Yigal Dilmoni, the deputy head of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea and Samaria, said the plan did not even begin to address the needs of the Jewish residents of the West Bank.“In the end, only a few hundred homes will be built and the rest will be advanced. It would be better if this announcement had not come out. The American government has changed and so should Israel’s policy,” Dilmoni said.He called on Netanyahu to authorize all the plans that have been frozen and to issue tenders for building everywhere in Judea and Samaria.
