Israel plans to double number of settlers in Jordan Valley
THE ISRAELI government plans to double the number of Israeli settlers residing in the Jordan Valley region, an Israeli official said yesterday. Speaking to Israeli public radio, Housing Minister Yoav Galant said his ministry was working on a plan aimed at "strengthening Jewish communities in the Jordan Valley."
"According to the plan, the government will transfer funds to Israeli cooperatives and agricultural villages in the Jordan Valley for every new [Jewish] family moving there," Galant said. The government also plans to launch a marketing campaign aimed at encouraging Jewish settlement in the region, he added.
In a related development, the Israeli government's planning committee has approved plans to build 240 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel's Channel 7 reported Wednesday that Meir Turgeman, deputy mayor of Jerusalem, had announced the approval of 90 new housing units in East Jerusalem's Jewish-only Gilo settlement.
According to Turgeman, construction of another 150 units in East Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo settlement had also been approved.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, including annexed East Jerusalem, which are seen as a major obstacle to peace between Israel and Palestinians. They live alongside some 3 million Palestinians.
After the 1967 war, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and deems the entire city its "indivisible and eternal capital," a status not recognized internationally. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and it is now ruled by Hamas.
The international community regards all Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories to be illegal and a major obstacle to Middle East peace. The area, captured by Israel in 1967, is not sovereign Israeli territory and Palestinians there are not Israeli citizens and do not have the right to vote. Palestinians accuse Israel of waging an aggressive campaign to "Judaize" the historic city with the aim of effacing its Arab and Islamic identity and driving out its Palestinian inhabitants.