ISRAEL HAS decided to speed up construction of 2,000 homes in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem in response to Monday’s decision by Unesco, the UN cultural agency, to accept Palestine as a full member.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of senior ministers in response to the move, which was condemned by Israel as a unilateral step that would further harm efforts to renew direct peace negotiations.
The ministers decided to expedite construction of 2,000 new settler homes over the 1967 green line West Bank border in east Jerusalem neighbourhoods and the larger settlement blocs, which Israel wants to annex under the terms of a final peace deal.
The city of Ma’ale Adumim, close to Jerusalem and the Gush Etzion bloc, south of Bethlehem, were two West Bank locations noted in the ministerial decision.
The move is bound to anger Palestinians, who have linked a resumption of bilateral peace talks to a total building freeze.
A senior government official said the inner cabinet had also decided to halt money transfers to the Palestinian Authority as a temporary measure until a final decision was made. The ministerial forum said Israel would also consider blocking the entry of Unesco delegations who wanted to turn West Bank religious locations into world heritage sites and it would consider denying VIP status to Palestinian dignitaries.
Washington responded to the Unesco decision by cutting off its funding after it became the first UN agency to accept Palestine as a full member since Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas applied for full membership of the United Nations on September 23rd
Meanwhile, opposition leaders have warned the prime minister against ordering military action to thwart Iran’s nuclear drive, noting that senior intelligence chiefs do not support a pre-emptive strike.
The issue came to the fore again this week when Mr Netanyahu told the Knesset that Iran was continuing its attempts to arm itself with nuclear weapons and a nuclear Iran would pose a “grave and immediate threat” to Israel.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni responded that Mr Netanyahu may not listen to her, but he should listen to Israeli security chiefs “and listen to them on every subject – including the Iranian threat”.
Labour party leader Shelly Yachimovich warned Mr Netanyahu against “launching a military adventure” against Iran.
Israel’s official policy is to keep all options on the table when it comes to preventing Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb but it has warned western powers that the diplomatic window of opportunity is closing fast. Because of the sensitivity of the issue, ministers are under orders not to make comment, but Mr Netanyahu has said more than once that without a credible military option, sanctions will not be enough to stop Tehran obtaining a nuclear bomb.
The UK’s independent Trident commission reported recently that Israel was extending the range of its Jericho 3 land-to-land missiles and expanding the capabilities of its submarine-launched cruise missiles to provide a second strike option against Iran.