No to building freeze - Shomron Council head Gershon Mesika

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/world/middleeast/30mideast.html
JERUSALEM — Israels defense minister Ehud Barak, instructed his staff on Sunday to recruit dozens of new building inspectors to supervise the governments temporary construction freeze in West Bank settlements, while some settler leaders vowed to defy the building ban.

Mr. Baraks hurried efforts and the settler threats illustrated both the governments seriousness and the difficulty it could face in carrying out its decision to halt new housing starts in the West Bank settlements over the next 10 months.

The government announced the construction halt on Wednesday, under pressure from the Obama administration to take steps to help revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. But Palestinian leaders said the temporary moratorium did not go far enough because it does not include East Jerusalem and allows for the completion of up to 3,000 housing units that are already being constructed.

The government decision also allows for limited public buildings, and Mr. Barak has given approval for 28 new educational and other public institutions to be built during the moratorium.

In order to enforce the construction freeze, Mr. Barak called for the recruitment and training of 40 new inspectors within two weeks, with dozens more to be recruited later. There are currently only 14 building inspectors working in the West Bank, where some 300,000 Israelis live in about 120 official settlements and scores of unauthorized outposts among a population of some 2.5 million Palestinians.

According to Mr. Baraks office, enforcement of the construction freeze will be carried out jointly by the police, border police and the militarys Civil Administration in the West Bank.

But when a Civil Administration representative went Sunday to present the freeze order to Gershon Mesika, the leader of the Shomron Regional Council for settlements in the northern West Bank, Mr. Mesika symbolically tore up the papers he received, according to David Haivri, a spokesman for the Shomron Council. Moshe Rosenbaum, the leader of another regional council, the Beit El Council, tore up the orders he received on Friday, according to Israeli Radio.

Mr. Mesika called the orders racist, because they apply only to Jewish building in the area, and declared that he does not intend to respect them, Mr. Haivri said.

It was not clear whether defiant settler leaders will turn to illegal building or try to find some other way around the ban.

But despite the settlers outrage at the building freeze, there has already been a positive aspect, according to Mr. Haivri.

The government has stated that buildings already approved and whose foundations have been laid may be completed. The settlers, who have been wary of a possible building freeze for months, have been laying as many foundations as they could, both Mr. Haivri and critics who monitor settlement construction have said.

The Shomron Council is said to have signed many more permits so far this year than it did in 2008. Mr. Haivri said the threat of a freeze had motivated many people here to take advantage of those permits and to start building homes before it is too late.

Category:

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Tags:

• Israel
• settlement
• Shomron
• Jew
• Peace
• West Bank

[justanoldman1]

Israel has every right to do what ever they want. The people of palistine don't do anything except complain about everything anyways. Muslims have done nothing with their land except throw stones at jews.

[bigollameo]

It's racist??? HA, oh shit!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!

That is some ridiculous, filthy reasoning right there. Funny as hell, and utterly crazy. You guys are NUTS!

[nohad9]

its funny that people forget that we talking about a Palestinian land , this not yours to begin with

Thieves .

[hcwcars1]

land stealing dirty jew

die