Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Monday 5 February 2018

Israel to legalize settlement outpost deep in West Bank

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel
on Sunday said it plans to
legalize an isolated West
Bank outpost in response to
the murder of one of its resi-
dents in a shooting attack
last month.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu told his weekly
Cabinet meeting that his
government will legalize
Havat Gilad to “allow the
continuing of normal life
there.”
“Whoever thought that
through the reprehensible
murder of a resident of
Havat Gilad, a father of six,
that our spirit can be bro-
ken and we can be weak-
ened, is making a bitter
mistake,” Netanyahu said.
Last month, Rabbi Raziel
Shevah, 35, was shot dead
from a passing vehicle as
he drove near his home

Bedouin children stand on the rubble of two classrooms destroyed by the Israeli army in the village
of Abu Nuwar, West Bank, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018.
Associated Press
in the unauthorized settle- as complicating peace ef- “deeply concerned” by
ment outpost near the Pal- forts. the demolition. In a state-
estinian city of Nablus. The The anti-settlement group ment, he said the Israeli-
Israeli military is still search- Peace Now called the ef- issued permits were “nearly
ing the area for suspects. fort to legalize the outpost impossible to obtain” and
Israel captured the West a “cynical exploitation of that demolitions such as
Bank, along with the Gaza the murder.” Sunday’s, among other
Strip and east Jerusalem in Meanwhile, Israel on Sun- Israeli policies, “have cre-
the 1967 Mideast war, ar- day demolished a two- ated a coercive environ-
eas the Palestinians want classroom school in a Bed- ment that violates the hu-
for a future state. Israel ouin community in the West man rights of residents and
has established about 120 Bank, saying the EU-funded generates a risk of forcible
West Bank settlements, structure was built illegally transfer.”
which it considers legal. In without proper permits and The demolition took place
addition, about 100 settle- that it was in a precari- near the settlement of
ment outposts have been ous condition. The school Maaleh Adumim, in the 60
erected without official ap- served nearly 30 third and percent of the West Bank
proval but Israel generally fourth grade students who known as Area C that re-
tolerates them. Most of the were moved to a nearby mains under full Israeli
international community guesthouse and barber- control. Israel has imposed
considers all Jewish West shop to continue classes. severe restrictions on Pales-
Bank settlements illegal. A statement from Cogat, tinian development in this
Havat Gilad, a community the Israeli defense body area, home to dozens of
of a few hundred Israelis, responsible for Palestinian Israeli settlements.
is among these rogue out- civilian affairs, said the de- The EU funds the con-
posts and is located deep molition came after a chal- struction of many homes,
inside the West Bank, away lenge in Israel’s Supreme schools and other struc-
from areas Israel expects Court was overruled. tures in the area and says
to keep under any peace Roberto Valent, an official the projects are needed for
deal with the Palestinians. with the U.N. humanitarian humanitarian reasons and
Critics see their expansion agency OCHA, said he was economic development.q