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Israel to build new settlements in West Bank
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March 13, 2011
Original URL: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Israel_to_build_new_settlements_in_West_Bank



Israel announced Sunday that it plans to build several hundred new
housing facilities in the West Bank, days after several Israelis were
killed in an attack on Friday.

According to officials, a meeting on Saturday of a government committee
resulted in the decision to build up to 500 new housing units, all
within existing settlements.  The new buildings are to be constructed in
areas that Israel expects to retain control of in the event of any
potential peace accord with Palestine.

A Palestinian spokesperson said that Israel's decision was "wrong and
unacceptable and will only create problems." The building of settlements
by Israel is widely criticized; in February fourteen of the fifteen 
members, with the US the only exception, supported a resolution that
would demand Israel stop further construction.

The announcement of the new buildings came days after five Israelis were
stabbed to death on Friday night, in an attack suspected to be of
Palestinian origin. In response to the attack, residents of the area had
asked the Israeli government to build new housing facilities. 

The attacks were referenced by Prime Minister , who said in a statement
that he had "noticed that several countries that always hasten to the
U.N. Security Council in order to condemn Israel, the state of the Jews,
for planning a house in some locality, or for laying some tiles
somewhere, have been dilatory in sharply condemning the murder of Jewish
infants."

== Sources == 

* http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/middleeast/14israel.html
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12725487



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