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Israeli opposition slams government over punitive measures against Palestinians

02 November 2011 17:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday defended his decision to speed up settlement building in Jerusalem and the West Bank, saying that Israel has right to build and expand an undivided Jerusalem, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday evening said the prime minister had ordered to accelerate the construction of some 2,000 apartments in East Jerusalem, the Gush Etzion settlement bloc and Ma’aleh Adumim, a settlement located between Bethlehem and Hebron.

"These are thousands of residential units in areas that will, under any future (peace) agreement, remain part of Israel," the statement read.

Israel’s opposition party Kadima harshly criticized the move, which came after United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) granted the Palestinians full- member status.

It was issued following a meeting of Netanyahu’s inner cabinet of eight senior ministers, who had also reportedly gave the go- ahead to temporarily freeze the transfer of some 100 million U.S. dollars in tax funds that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian National Authority.

The inner cabinet will weigh further punitive steps against the Palestinians for their unilateral move to obtain admission into UNESCO in its next meeting, the statement said.

It did not specify what those measures might include, but Israel is reportedly mulling to cancel the special permits it grants to senior Palestinian officials that enable them unfettered travel between the West Bank and Israel.

The announcement sparked angry responses from both Palestinian officials and Israeli opposition lawmakers.

Kadima, headed by Tzipi Livni, who ran neck-to-neck with Netanyahu in the 2009 elections, called Netanyahu’s decision " political stupidity" that will isolate Israel in the world.

"While the Palestinians are scoring achievements in the world, Israel has responded by distancing itself from it and responds to political failure with foolishness. Netanyahu’s government provides the Palestinians more tools in their struggle against Israel," said a Kadima spokesman.

Peace Now, a left-of-center NGO that advocates Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories, called the decision a " price tag" in the peace process, in reference to a term for attacks by right-wing settlers against Palestinians and their property.

Israeli officials have expressed concern that the UNESCO admission has paved the way for the Palestinians to seek membership in a host of other international bodies.

The U.S. reacted to the vote, which was carried 107 to 14, by announcing that it is cutting off its 60 million U.S. dollars funding to UNESCO, about 22 percent of the organization’s annual budget, with State Department officials underscoring that admission was granted despite Washington’s prior warnings.

Both Israel and the U.S. have long-held that resolving the Mideast conflict can only be reached through a negotiated agreement.

Netanyahu on Monday blasted the UNESCO decision, saying the Palestinians were yet again seeking "a state without a deal." He vowed that Israel will not "sit around idly" in the face of such moves that "harm Israel and are a crude violation of the most elementary commitment the sides took upon themselves in the peace process."

Leaders of Jewish communities in the West Bank, for their part, lauded the cabinet’s decision, saying it was "a step in the right direction, both to win the political battle started by the Palestinian campaign, and to return at last to the path of construction."

Some settler leaders treated the announcement with skepticism, citing a recent government decision to dismantle a host of illegal outposts in the West Bank in the coming months.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak is due to officially announce the demolition of Amona, a settlement north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, sometime next week, Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported Tuesday.

The report claimed the Israeli military is already drawing operational plans for carrying out the partial demolition of some eight other unauthorized outposts, in keeping with a High Court ruling from 2008.