Abject

Israel may halt new settlement:

Amid protests from the United States and the European Union, the Defense Ministry is reconsidering its approval of a new Jordan Valley community located over the Green Line, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.

The government and the Defense Ministry initially downplayed last week's decision to allow the construction of 30 homes for Gaza evacuees in Maskiot.
A government source told the Post then that the decision was merely "adjusting" the status of a plot of state land where settlement has been authorized since 1981.

The small community, which is located off an isolated road in the Jordan Valley, has been populated on and off since 1982. Currently, it is home to a few permanent residents and a small pre-army academy that houses 50 Orthodox men in fewer than a dozen small white buildings.

The new homes would be constructed adjacent to the existing structures and would more than triple the number of structures on the site.

But after the EU and the US said the initiative violated Israel's international commitments with respect to the West Bank, Defense Minister Amir Peretz decided to reconsider the decision, according to sources in the Defense Ministry

Posted on 02 January 2007 @ 17:28 GMT