Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 1 augusT 2019
Israel approves Palestinian construction in West Bank

By ILAN BEN ZION the construction of tens of
Associated Press thousands of settler homes
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Is- there, but permits for Pales-
raeli Cabinet unanimously tinian construction are ex-
approved a proposal to tremely rare.
build over 700 housing units Israeli officials declined to
for Palestinians in addition provide specifics to The As-
to 6,000 Israeli settlement sociated Press about what
housing units in the West exactly the 700 approved
Bank. Palestinian units entailed.
Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- Israel captured the West
tanyahu's government ad- Bank, along with east Jeru-
vanced the proposal late salem and the Gaza Strip,
on Tuesday, according to in the 1967 Mideast war.
an Israeli official who spoke The Palestinians seek these
on condition of anonym- areas as parts of a future
ity to describe the closed- state. Most of the interna-
door meeting. tional community consid-
A spokesman for Palestin- ers Israeli settlements in the
ian President Mahmoud West Bank illegal under in-
Abbas responded to the ternational law and an im-
development by saying pediment to a two-state
that the Palestinians don't solution to the conflict.
need Israeli permits to build In this Feb. 7, 2017 file photo, Palestinian laborers work at a construction site in the Israeli settle- Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Ab-
on land that Israel occu- ment of Maale Adumim, near Jerusalem. bas' spokesman, said the
pied. Associated Press Palestinians have the right
The approval appeared to build on all territory oc-
timed to coincide with a regional tour in Jordan on peace proposal, which the is known as Area C — the cupied in 1967, "without
visit by President Donald Wednesday to promote the administration has yet to re- roughly 60% of the West needing a permit from any-
Trump's son-in-law Jared Trump administration's call lease. He later flew to Israel Bank where Israel exercis- one" — referring to Israel.
Kushner, who is also the for a $50 billion economic and was expected to meet es full control and where "We will not give any legiti-
White House's chief Mid- support plan for the Pal- with Netanyahu later in the most Jewish settlements macy to the construction
east envoy. estinians. The funds would evening. The Israeli permits are located. Netanyahu's of any settlement," he also
Kushner kicked off a new accompany a Mideast are for construction in what government has approved said.q

Bus hit by roadside bomb in Afghanistan, 32 killed

By RAHIM FAIEZ several rounds of peace
Associated Press talks with the United States
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) aimed at ending the 18-
— A roadside bomb tore year war.
through a bus in western The attack came a day
Afghanistan on Wednes- after the U.N. mission in
day, killing at least 32 peo- Afghanistan released a re-
ple, including children, a port saying that most civil-
provincial official said. ian deaths in the first half of
Mohibullah Mohib, spokes- the year were caused by
man for the police chief in Afghan forces and their in-
Farah province, said the ternational allies. The report
explosion also wounded apparently referred to ci-
15 people. Most of the vilians killed during Afghan
wounded were said to be and U.S. military operations
in critical condition, indi- against insurgents.
cating the death toll could The U.N. report said 403
rise. civilians were killed by Af-
The bus was traveling on ghan forces in the first six
a main highway between months of the year and an-
the western city of Herat other 314 by international
and the southern city of forces, a total of 717. That's
Kandahar. Afghans assist a wounded man in a hospital after a roadside bomb on the main highway between compared to 531 killed
No one immediately the western city of Herat and the southern city of Kandahar, in Herat, Afghanistan, Wednesday, by the Taliban, an Islamic
claimed responsibility, but July 31, 2019. State affiliate and other
the Taliban operate in the Associated Press militants during the same
region and frequently use period. It said 300 of those
roadside bombs to target quently target civilians, es- "international humanitar- all parties to the conflict to killed by militants were di-
government officials and pecially the country's mi- ian law explicitly prohibits uphold their obligations to rectly targeted. The U.N.
security forces. The Islamic nority Shiites. indiscriminate attacks and protect civilians, Dujarric said the leading cause of
State group's affiliate in Af- U.N. Secretary-General attacks directed against said. civilian deaths and inju-
ghanistan is also known to Antonio Guterres strongly civilians," U.N. spokesman The Taliban have kept up ries was "ground engage-
have been behind attacks condemned Wednesday's Stephane Dujarric said. a steady tempo of attacks ments," which caused one
in the area. IS militants fre- attack and reiterated that The U.N. chief appealed to even as they have held in three casualties. q