Israel Plans To Expand In Gaza Strip Netanyahu Says Homes There And West Bank Needed For Growth

Israel plans to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because of population growth, not because it seeks to block a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.

Netanyahu spoke after approving construction of 474 new homes in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley. Israeli peace activists said Netanyahu’s government has already approved construction of thousands more settlement homes - far beyond what would be needed to accommodate natural growth.

But Netanyahu, speaking to European leaders in Lisbon, Portugal, dismissed claims the settlement expansion was aimed at preventing an eventual Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where about 145,000 Jewish settlers live amid 2 million Palestinians.

“Our settlement policy … does not fundamentally change the situation on the ground as they are trying to say,” Netanyahu said in remarks broadcast on Israel army radio.

“There is natural growth of settlements as we always said there would be,” Netanyahu told a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The Arab League warned this week that Israel’s settlement policy could halt the peace process and Palestinian Information Minister Imad Falouji today called the settlements “a buried mine which one day will explode the region.”

Israel army radio quoted Netanyahu as telling European leaders he promised voters he would boost settlement construction and he didn’t intend to let them down. Netanyahu said construction starts had been delayed largely because of budget problems.

Netanyahu also called on foreign businesses to invest in Israel despite indications of a crumbling peace process, maintaining Israel was committed to peace.

Netanyahu’s government is reportedly planning to restore subsidies and tax breaks for settlers in an attempt to lure more Israelis to the West Bank and Gaza.

Foreign Minister David Levy Tuesday maintained the government was not establishing new settlements and only planned to do the “minimum necessary” to keep up with population growth in the Jewish settlements.

The daily Yediot Ahronot reported Tuesday that Jews living abroad raised $40 million in three months to buy land and Arab properties in and around the West Bank town of Hebron, east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Negev desert. It said the fund-raising was done with the knowledge and encouragement of government agencies.

Hebron is the last West Bank town under Israeli occupation, and Israeli-Palestinian talks on a troop pullback are deadlocked. About 500 Jewish settlers live in the city, amid 130,000 Palestinians.

Hundreds of properties have already been bought from Arab owners in Hebron and east Jerusalem.