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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 13 May 2022
Rights group: Israel approves over 4,000 new settler homes

By JOSEPH KRAUSS tali Bennett, who once led
Associated Press the main settler organiza-
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel tion, is opposed to Palestin-
advanced plans for the ian statehood, but his gov-
construction of more than ernment has taken steps to
4,000 settler homes in the improve economic condi-
occupied West Bank on tions for Palestinians.
Thursday, a rights group Israel approved some 3,000
said, a day after the mili- settler homes in October,
tary demolished homes in brushing aside a rebuke
an area where hundreds of from the U.S., its closest ally.
Palestinians face the threat Peace talks with the Pales-
of expulsion. tinians broke down more
It was a jolting illustration of than a decade ago, in part
Israel’s policies in the ter- because of Israel’s continu-
ritory it has occupied for ing construction on lands
nearly 55 years. Critics, in- the Palestinians want for a
cluding three major human future state. On Wednes-
rights groups, say those pol- day, Israeli troops demol-
icies amount to apartheid, ished at least 18 buildings
a charge Israel rejects as and structures in the West
an attack on its very legiti- Bank following a Supreme
macy. Court decision that would
Hagit Ofran, an expert at The east Jerusalem Israeli settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev, seen next to a section of the controversial force at least 1,000 Pales-
the anti-settlement watch- separation barrier, Thursday, May 12, 2022. Associated Press tinians out of an area Israel
dog group Peace Now, told designated as a firing zone
The Associated Press that a since the Biden administra- U.N. Mideast envoy Tor settlements illegal and sup- in the early 1980s.
military planning body ap- tion took office. The White Wennesland condemned ports a two-state solution B’Tselem, another Israeli
proved 4,427 housing units House opposes settlement the announcement, call- to the conflict. But neither rights group, said 12 resi-
at a meeting on Thursday construction and views it as ing the settlements a “ma- the United States nor other dential buildings were
that she attended. “The an obstacle to any eventu- jor obstacle to peace” that world powers have given among the structures that

state of Israel took another al peace agreement with undermines hopes for a Israel the stronger party were demolished, in vil-
stumble toward the abyss the Palestinians. There was two-state solution. any incentive to accede to lages in the arid hills south
and further deepened the no immediate comment “Continued settlement ex- such an arrangement. Isra- of the West Bank city of He-
occupation,” she tweeted. from the administration on pansion further entrenches el says Palestinian leaders bron.
Spokespeople for the Israeli Thursday’s decision. But last the occupation, encroach- have rejected proposals by Residents of the Masafer
government and the mili- week, when the first reports es upon Palestinian land previous governments that Yatta say they have been
tary body in charge of civil- emerged of the impending and natural resources, and would have given them a living in the region, herding
ian affairs in the West Bank settlement approval, State hampers the free move- state. animals and practicing tra-
did not respond to requests Department spokeswoman ment of the Palestinian Israel views the West Bank ditional desert agriculture
for comment. Jalina Porter reiterated that population,” he said. as the biblical and histori- for decades, long before
It’s the biggest advance- the U.S. “strongly” opposes Most of the international cal heartland of the Jewish Israel captured the West
ment of settlement projects settlement expansion. community considers the people. Prime Minister Naf- Bank in the 1967 war. q

Plane veers off runway in China and catches fire; 36 injured

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese billowing into the air and in- western city of Chongqing “In the process of taking up all my luck in my entire
passenger jet veered off juring more than 30 people. for a flight to Nyingchi in off, the flight crew discov- life,” he said in an interview
the runway during takeoff The Tibet Airlines flight with China’s Tibet region. ered an abnormality with with China News Service.
and caught fire on Thurs- 122 people on board was Videos shared by state me- the aircraft and stopped The Chinese flight tracking
day, sending black smoke departing from the south- dia showed the left side of the takeoff according to platform VariFlight said the
the aircraft on fire as peo- the procedures. The air- plane is 9 1/2 years old.
ple who appeared to be craft left the runway and The airport said about two
passengers headed away caught fire after the engine hours after the accident
from the scene. Other foot- hit the ground. Currently that flights had resumed
age showed fire trucks the fire has been put out,” and that an investigation
spraying water on the the aviation authorities said was underway. One of the
plane. The accident hap- in a statement. three runways remained
pened at 8:09 a.m. (0009 One passenger, Long An- closed, the CAAC said.
GMT), Tibet Airlines said. quan, told China News Ser- The incident follows the
The Airbus A319-115 jet had vice that during takeoff he crash of a China Eastern
113 passengers and nine heard an unusual noise, af- Boeing 737-800 in south-
flight crew on board, all of ter which the plane started eastern China on March 21
whom were evacuated. to lean to one side and hit in which all 132 people on
During the evacuation, 36 the ground with its wing. board were killed. That ac-
people were injured with Long quickly bent forward cident, in which the plane
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a passenger jet sprains or scrapes, accord- and put his hands over his went into a sudden nose-
that veered off a runway during take-off and caught fire is seen ing to the southwest re- head, but the impact was dive and slammed into
in the aftermath in Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport in gional branch of the Civil so strong that he was still the ground in a mountain-
southwestern China’s Chongqing Thursday, May 12, 2022. Aviation Administration of injured. Long said he felt ous area, remains under
Associated Press China (CAAC). lucky to survive. “I’ve used investigation.q