Israel's Peace Group Urges Barak to Stop Settlement ConstructionIsrael's Peace Now organization Monday urged Prime Minister Ehud Barak to stop the continuing construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Earlier Monday, Israel Radio reported that the Israel Lands Authority recently approved the building of 607 new units in the settlements and the Construction and Housing Ministry also issued a tender for building 76 units in a settlement. Peace Now, one of the largest pro-peace groups in Israel, pointed out in a statement that it now appears that Barak is building even more in the settlements than his right-wing predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, despite his declarations of freezing settlement expansion. The organization termed the settlements "the main obstacle on the path to an agreement (with the Palestinians)." "There is no question that the expansion of settlement activity was one of the central elements in the failure of Barak to create even minimum credibility regarding his intention to reach an agreement with the Palestinians," the statement said. Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the 1967 Mideast War and later constructed more than 140 Jewish settlements there. Since the Israeli-Palestinian clashes broke out two months ago, it has become clearer that the settlements are a focus of Palestinian rage. The dismantling of the Jewish settlements is also a major contention in the final-status negotiations between the two sides. |
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