Israeli premier vows to continue West Bank settlement

— Israel’s prime minister pledged Sunday to move ahead with construction of a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, speaking just hours after Israeli troops dragged dozens of Palestinian anti-settlement activists from the area.

The activists had pitched more than two dozen tents at the site Friday, laying claim to the land and drawing attention to Israel’s internationally condemned settlement policy.

Before dawn Sunday, hundreds of Israeli soldiers removed the protesters by force, beating some, activists said.Despite the eviction, Mustafa Barghouti, one of the protest leaders, claimed success, saying the overall strategy is to “make [Israel’s] occupation costly.”

The planned settlement, known as E-1, would deepen east Jerusalem’s separation from the West Bank, war-won areas the Palestinians want for their state. The project had been on hold for years, in part because of U.S. objections.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revived the E-1plans late last year, in response to the Palestinians’ successful bid for U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Jewish settlements are at the heart of the current, fouryear impasse in Mideast peace efforts. The Palestinians have refused to negotiate while Israel continues to build settlements on the lands they claim for a future state. Netanyahu says peace talks should start without any preconditions. Netanyahu also rejects any division of Jerusalem.

Israel expanded the boundaries of east Jerusalem after the 1967 war and then annexed the area - a move not recognized by the international community. Since then, it has built a ring of Jewish settlements in the enlarged eastern sector to cement its control over the city.

E-1 would be built in the West Bank, just east of Jerusalem, and would close one of the last options for Palestinians to create territorial continuity between Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, their hopedfor capital, and the West Bank.According to building plans, E-1 would have more than 3,000 apartments.

The Palestinians said they turned to the U.N. last November out of frustration with the deadlock in peace talks. They believe the international endorsement of the 1967 lines as a future border will bolster their position in future negotiations. But Israel has accused the Palestinians of trying to bypass the negotiating process and impose a solution.

Netanyahu told Israel Army Radio on Sunday that it would take time to build E-1, citing planning procedures. Still, he said, “we will complete the planning and there will be construction.”

Barghouti, one of the protest leaders, said the demonstrators pitched the tents on private Palestinian land and obtained an Israeli court injunction preventing the removal of the tents for several days. In response, Israel declared the site a closed militaryzone, enabling Israeli soldiers to evict the activists, he said.

About half a million Israelis live in the dozens of settlements that dot the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Over the past15 years, Jewish settlers have also set up dozens of rogue settlements, without formal approval, and critics say the government has done little to remove them.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian prime minister warned Sunday that his government could fail to meet its obligations to its people because of a cash crunch, and urged Arab countries to deliver on promised aid.

Salam Fayyad met with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise the $100 million they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said seven countries have responded favorably, but he did not name them.

League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo decided to dispatch a delegation to the region to raise the funds the Palestinian government needs to make ends meet. The group would include the Elaraby, Fayyad, and the foreign ministers of Iraq and Lebanon.

Fayyad said last week that the authority’s cash crunch has gradually worsened in recent years, reaching a point where the government is unable to pay the salaries of about 150,000government employees. On Sunday, he told reporters that the situation may push more than 1.5 million of 4 million Palestinians into poverty and could lead to the disintegration of the Palestinian Authority.

Fayyad said the Palestinians’ successful bid to gain U.N. recognition for a state has led to Israeli punitive measures, including a halt to monthly transfers of about $100 million in tax funds the Jewish state collects on behalf of the Palestinians.

In a statement, the Arab League urged Israel to release those funds, and called on the international community to press Israel to do so.

Fayyad said those tax rebates amount to about one-third of the monthly operating costs of the Palestinian Authority. He said he now takes in only about $50 million a month in revenue.

Israel has said it used the withheld money to settle Palestinian Authority debt to Israeli companies. It’s not clear whether the transfers will resume.

Information for this article was contributed by Amy Teibel and Sarah El Deeb of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 01/14/2013

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