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U.S.: Plans for new West Bank settlement violate road map
By News Agencies

Israel's plan to settle 30 families on a former Israel Defense Forces base in the West Bank would violate terms of a U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, the United States said on Wednesday.

"The establishment of a new settlement or the expansion of an existing settlement would violate Israel's obligations under the road map," Gonzo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, told reporters in Washington.

"The U.S. calls on Israel to meet its road map obligations and avoid taking steps that could be viewed as predetermining the outcome of final-status negotiations," he said. Washington was seeking an explanation from Israel, Gallegos added.
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Defending its construction plan, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy said "the settlement is not a new one." It was legally established in 1982, housed an army unit and a school and has had civilians living there for several years, said spokesman David Siegel.

The plan is to build within the confines of the existing settlement, he said.

Israel agreed to the road map in 2003. It was devised by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia in an effort to guide Israel and the Palestinians into an agreement that estalishes a Palestinian state.

The European Union said earlier Wednesday it was deeply concerned about the plan, which would turn a former Israel Defense Forces base in the West Bank into a settlement for 30 settler families evacuated from Gaza last year.

A U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan known as the road map calls for a halt to settlement construction in the West Bank, land Palestinians want for a state.

"This development runs contrary to the commitment undertaken by Israel in the road map," Finland, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said in a statement.

"The Presidency of the European Union expresses its deep concern at the news that the Israeli government has authorized the construction of the Maskiot settlement in the West Bank.

"Such unilateral actions are also illegal under international law and threaten to render the two-state solution physically impossible to implement," it said.

The families planning to move to the former army base in Maskiot lived in two of the 21 settlements Israel dismantled in the Gaza Strip in 2005 under the disengagement plan promoted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Some 8,500 settlers were pulled out of the Gaza Strip, along with IDF troops, after 38 years of control.

"The Presidency of the EU urges the parties to refrain from all activities that would endanger the cease-fire," Finland said. "Extending the ceasefire to the West Bank must be an urgent goal."

Some 260,000 settlers live in the West Bank, among 2.5 million Palestinians. The World Court has branded Israeli settlements on land captured in the 1967 Six Day War as illegal.

Repopulating Maskiot
Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Tuesday authorized the repopulation of Maskiot, an abandoned Nahal infantry brigade settlement in the Jordan Valley.

Peretz approved the construction of 30 new homes in Maskiot that are intended for families evacuated from Shirat Hayam and other uprooted Gaza Strip settlements.

Shirat Hayam was one of the more ideological settlements among the Katif settlement bloc. It was founded in response to a Palestinian terrorist attack against a bus carrying children from the nearby settlement of Kfar Darom.

The proposal to relocate the families in Maskiot was approved in principle by the former defense minister Shaul Mofaz and the former prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Maskiot originally had belonged to the ultra-Orthodox branch of Nahal and currently houses a premilitary academy.

The area of Maskiot, along with that belonging to Beitar Ilit, Givat Ze'ev, and Oranim, was expanded in May. Of the four settlements, Maskiot is the only one on the eastern side of the West Bank separation fence.

It was initially reported that Peretz would suspend authorization to repopulate the settlement. Construction on the new homes will begin in the upcoming weeks, according to Jordan Valley Regional Council Chairman Dubi Tal
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  1.   Settlers as Pawns 18:47  |  Natallie Durson 27/12/06
  2.   Stupidity 18:50  |  Robert 27/12/06
  3.   1 more PROMISE BROKEN... 18:52  |  MIKE KATZ 27/12/06
  4.   EU 18:54  |  Elizabeth 27/12/06
  5.   EU slams 18:54  |  I 27/12/06
  6.   Pressure tactics? 18:54  |  Yonatan 27/12/06
  7.   #1 NATALLIE IT IS LAND INSIDE ISRAEL 18:58  |  paul harris 27/12/06
  8.   No word on actual Qassams but concern for plans from EU-jerks 19:02  |  Absolute Sweden 27/12/06
  9.   Terrible Israeli Move, Again 19:06  |  Jason 27/12/06
  10.   to I #5 19:13  |  The Editor - BO 27/12/06
  11.   ELIZABETH 19:17  |  BO 27/12/06
  12.   SETTLERS AS PAWNS? TO NATALIE DURSON#1 19:34  |  bo 27/12/06
  13.   no human being should have to resettle 19:52  |  Ralph 27/12/06
  14.   None of the business of EU 19:55  |  Brod 27/12/06
  15.   EU statements equal incitement to hatred and violence 19:56  |  Joseph E . 27/12/06
  16.   West Bank is a EU-designated `no kike` zone 20:04  |  Moshe 27/12/06
  17.   Paul Harris vs. The World Part 1 20:05  |  chet 27/12/06
  18.   EU is right, Elisabeth is wrong 20:07  |  Jean-Paul Doguet 27/12/06
  19.   Paul Harris vs. The World Part 2 20:12  |  chet 27/12/06
  20.   So anybody criticizing colonialist Jewish 20:23  |  American living here 27/12/06
  21.   to bad. they count for nothing 20:24  |  ralph 27/12/06
  22.   The EU is right on this 20:31  |  Geoff 27/12/06
  23.   american living here, #20 21:15  |  Joe 27/12/06
  24.   When will US and EU slam the Palestinians 21:32  |  X 27/12/06
  25.   Illegal settlement 21:34  |  zephora 27/12/06
  26.   What are these idiots doing? 21:35  |  Jerusalem Shmuel 27/12/06
  27.   Too Little Too Late with Criticism 21:35  |  Yaakov Sullivan 27/12/06
  28.   Gaza settlers AGAIN? Common now 21:36  |  Omar 27/12/06
  29.   Israel`s plan to construct a new community the West Bank 21:38  |  paul 27/12/06
  30.   Elizabeth sweetheart 21:40  |  Omar 27/12/06
  31.   The World vs the Jews 21:43  |  Barry 27/12/06
  32.   Even the Americans! 21:44  |  Boycott 27/12/06
  33.   Ralph 21:46  |  Omar 27/12/06
  34.   Israel`s hubris and irresponsibility 21:49  |  Otto Rand 27/12/06
  35.   Why shriek at the EU - US also condemned this decision 21:52  |  Gullible Cynic 27/12/06
  36.   Jordan Valley will have to remain a part of Israel 21:54  |  Ehudi Zioni 27/12/06
  37.   re # 9 Jason 21:56  |  Axel 27/12/06
  38.   re # 7 paul 21:58  |  Axel 27/12/06
  39.   Re #7 `IT IS LAND INSIDE ISRAEL...` 22:01  |  Colin Wright 27/12/06
  40.   creating new friction-points 22:03  |  rose 27/12/06
  41.   PLEASE ANSWER: ARE SETTLERS CIVILIANS ??????? 22:03  |  THE JACKAL 27/12/06
  42.   more villages and towns... 22:09  |  Vital 27/12/06
  43.   TO Bo #12 22:09  |  Darwish 27/12/06
  44.   Real or Paper tiger? 22:11  |  Baz Mann 27/12/06
  45.   Overreaction man 22:11  |  A. M. R. 27/12/06
  46.   re # 13 Ralph 22:12  |  Axel 27/12/06
  47.   Stupidity is even more obvious 22:16  |  Robert 27/12/06
  48.   with AIPAC blackmailers behind them 22:18  |  samos 27/12/06
  49.   To the World 22:20  |  Rick 27/12/06
  50.   ever hear of "getting jewed"? 22:20  |  samos 27/12/06
  51.   ELIZABETH and the EU 22:23  |  samos 27/12/06
  52.   With all due respect, Chet # 17 and 19 22:23  |  Elihu D. Stone, JD 27/12/06
  53.   The Road Map is Dead 22:23  |  Wendy 27/12/06
  54.   Israel treated today as Jews were in the 1930s 22:27  |  Bimmer 27/12/06
  55.   Israel has ALL the rights 22:27  |  samos 27/12/06
  56.   not pawns #1--the raison d`etre 22:28  |  Paul Freedman 27/12/06
  57.   IDIOCY 22:40  |  Brant 27/12/06
  58.   Chet #17 & #19 22:41  |  Dana in Canada 27/12/06
  59.   Whats not to like? 22:45  |  tadchase 27/12/06
  60.   Road Map is an unconstitutional action against religion 22:46  |  sam 27/12/06
  61.   Road Map 22:55  |  Dwido 27/12/06
  62.   Colonial Expansion 22:56  |  Ernie 27/12/06
  63.   another victory for the anti Israeli settlers 22:57  |  Ernst 27/12/06
  64.   Do attacks on Israel violate nothing? 22:58  |  KUTW 27/12/06
  65.   1. Natallie Durson: the Pawns 23:01  |  KUTW 27/12/06
  66.   From Azza to Azzazel, or: Old concepts die hard 23:02  |  Tosefta 27/12/06
  67.   Money to build settlement should be... 23:06  |  Rami 27/12/06
  68.   A KING IN ISRAEL 23:06  |  SOON 27/12/06
  69.   Bush senior was the last U.S. president..... 23:07  |  Swiss (Dino) 27/12/06
  70.   When did Europe support Israel ? 23:07  |  redmike 27/12/06
  71.   but eu says nothing about constant rocket fire 23:08  |  ralph