And the continual Zionist encroachment of Palestinian homes continues...
I'm truly interested if any Australian would consider encroachment on their homes like this to be an act of war, that warrants militantism?? IF it were your homes, would you just get up, walk away, and say "sorry for being an inconvenience"?? Keep in mind, this has happened *constantly* since the day Zionists began arriving in Palestine, as supposed immigrants.
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Israel declares [MORE] State Land on West Bank
February 17, 2009 - 5:59AM
Israel has declared 170 hectares of the occupied West Bank as state land, in a move that paves the way for the expansion of a settlement near Bethlehem.
The decision is certain to draw sharp criticism as Palestinians and the international community consider continued settlement activity a major hurdle in already hobbled Middle East peace talks.
The tract, which falls in the northern part of the Efrat settlement, just outside Bethlehem, was declared state land after eight appeals were rejected by the military authority in charge of the West Bank, a military spokesman said.
A project to build 2,500 homes had been launched in 2004 but was held up by the legal appeals filed by Palestinians.
Construction could still be a long way off as various formal approvals and permits are still required.
The Haaretz daily said the Efrat council plans to wait until a new government takes office before submitting a request.
The coalition government hawkish former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to form is expected to be more settler-friendly than the outgoing administration of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Olmert has made it clear Israel will eventually have to give up most of the West Bank if it wants peace with the Palestinians, though settlement construction has expanded under his government despite international criticism.
Efrat, which has a population of 9,000, is part of Gush Etzion, one of the largest settlement blocs Israel wants to keep under any agreement with the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority on Monday obtained a bank loan to cover civil servants' salaries for January, the Palestinian government announced.
"The finance ministry obtained this morning a bank loan which will enable it to pay out the salaries of all civil servants for January," the government of prime minister Salam Fayyad said in a statement.
The loan was granted after the Palestinian government received pledges of aid that will make it possible to reimburse it, Fayyad said.
The PA, headed by President Mahmud Abbas, is heavily dependent on international aid.
Source:
The Age