Following Palestinian unity government deal, building plans announced in settlement blocs

Days after the swearing in of a new Palestinian unity government formed with the backing of Hamas, the Islamic movement ruling the Gaza Strip, Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel announced plans and tenders for 1,500 new housing units in the West Bank.

The move, the minister said, is a “fitting Zionist response to the formation of a Palestinian terror government”.

He said the housing plans were “just the beginning”.

Ariel’s construction plans relate almost exclusively to locations in West Bank settlement blocs, which most assume will remain part of Israel under any future peace deal. Just 38 of the units in question are scheduled to be outside these areas.

On Monday (2 June), Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced the formation of a Palestinian unity government backed by both his own Fatah faction and Hamas, which is committed to Israel’s destruction and is classified as a terror organisation by both the United States and the European Union.

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who also served as Israel’s lead negotiator with the Palestinians, criticized Minister Ariel’s move, saying that it served the interests of his Jewish Home party.

Opposition leader and Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog said the failure of the government to advance towards a two state solution was leading Israel in the direction of a bi national state as he called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to plot a new diplomatic path.

One day after the US announced that it intends to work with the Palestinian unity government,

The European Union has welcomed the announcement of the formation of the new Palestinian government one day after the US State Department declared its intention to work with this government.

“We take note of the news of the establishment of a Palestinian national consensus government headed by Prime Minister Hamdallah. This is an important step in the process of Palestinian reconciliation,” an EU statement said.

The statement added: “We welcome the appointment of a government of independent personalities and the declaration by President Abbas that this new government is committed to the principle of the two state solution based on the 1967 borders, to the recognition of Israel’s legitimate right to exist, to non-violence and to the respect of previous agreements.”

The EU said its engagement with the new Palestinian government “will be based on its adherence to these policies and commitments.”  The EU believes that the process of Palestinian reconciliation “faces many challenges but it also creates new opportunities for the peace process, for democratic renewal and for the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the West Bank”.