March 8: Latest on Wadi Fuqeen
March 9th, 2010 • Awareness, News
The Israeli Government has just announced that it has approved the building of another 112 housing units at Beitar Illit. This is the illegal settlement that regularly releases its sewage on to farmers’ fields in Wadi Fuqeen.
AP/Ha’aretz:
Israel OKs new settlement work despite slowdown
Israel authorized the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank despite a pledge to slowdown settlement building, the government disclosed Monday — a decision that enraged the Palestinians a day after they reluctantly agreed to resume peace talks.
Word of the new construction in the Beitar Illit settlement came amid a flurry of activity by the U.S. to try to salvage peacemaking.
Vice President Joseph Biden is due to land later Monday on the highest-level visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by an Obama administration official. Washington’s special envoy to the Mideast, George Mitchell, is also meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. – Read more…
BBC News reports:
US denies Israel settlement move violates moratorium
The US has said Israel’s authorisation of new building in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank does not violate a recently announced moratorium.
But a state department spokesman said it was “the kind of thing that both sides need to be cautious of”.
Israel has promised a 10-month pause in settlement building in the West Bank, though not in East Jerusalem.
It says the 112 new apartments in Beitar Illit settlement were approved ahead of the moratorium being declared.
Please read more about Wadi Fuqeen village in our previous update: “Wadi Fuqeen Village Under Curfew” and on their website…
