28 April 2014
Source: Middle East Monitor
An officer of Israel's occupation forces has revealed that political
motivations are behind Israel's recent decision to freeze 19 Palestinian
construction projects in the West Bank, saying that this is an effort
to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority for seeking to join UN
organisations and conventions, Israel's Maariv newspaper reported on Sunday.
During a special committee meeting in parliament, Israel's
coordinator of government activities in the occupied Palestinian
territories, Major General Yoav Mordechai, was quoted as saying that,
"Master construction plans for the Palestinian populations have been
frozen as a response to [President] Mahmoud Abbas's overtures to the UN
organisations."
Israel directly controls Area C of the occupied West Bank and the
government has insisted that construction permits are issued based on
the decision of planning experts; however, the occupation authorities
have instituted a politicised bureaucracy that discriminates against
Palestinians, making it very difficult for them to secure any such
building permits even when international organisations are backing the
projects.
Now, Israel plans to make it impossible for Palestinian to build
legally, cancelling the 19 previously approved projects and stopping any
future construction projects as well, a policy that is based solely on
political considerations.
Link: .middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/11130-israel-punishes-palestinian-authority-by-freezing-construction-projects-in-the-west-bank.
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