“We had no illusions int’l community was going to embrace the move,” official says of authorization of 851 Jewish homes.
The government announced authorization of 851 new homes in the settlements despite an anticipated wave of international condemnations because it believes that – as in previous instances – the storm will pass, officials said on Thursday.
The officials spoke even as the US, France and UN already slammed the decision to build the new housing units
The decision was made on Wednesday shortly after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blocked Knesset legislation that would have saved unauthorized settler homes from demolition – paving the way for the evacuation of five buildings built on private Palestinian land in the Ulpana outpost, on the outskirts of Beit El.
The condemnations were not long in coming.
“Continued Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank undermines peace efforts and contradicts Israeli commitments and obligations including the 2003 road map,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Wednesday evening.
“The US position on Israeli settlements is clear,” he said. “We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity. We also oppose any effort to legalize settlement outposts.”
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero urged Netanyahu to “avoid provocation and renew dialogue.” He called on the prime minister to “abstain from implementing these plans. We recall that colonization in all its forms is illegal under international law, undermines the two-state solution at ground level, and is an obstacle to peace.”
While the government seemed to feel that the condemnations would pass, one diplomatic official warned that Israel ignored the world on this matter at its peril.
Negotiations are ongoing between the Prime Minister’s Office and Ulpana residents, but no agreement has been reached.
At present, Ulpana residents plan to resist the relocation of their homes. Activists have set up tents by the homes to protest the pending demolitions.
Source: Jerusalem Post
My comment:
In principle:
The demolition of five house in Ulpana is wrong.
I guess Benjamin Netanyahu would not permit the UN to decide where the Jews can live and build in Haifa?
Should any house in Tel Aviv be relocated, on demands from Washington?
The same laws that apply to Haifa and Tel Aviv must apply to Judea and Samaria. This is Jewish land.
Still the Jews living in these two districts of Israel, are treated like second class citizens. The daily life has been regulated by “temporarily military ordinances” since the land was liberated from Islamic occupation in 1967.
Still: We must welcome Netanyahu and the cabinets approval of new Jewish homes in Samaria. Still several million Jews have mot eturned home from the USA. Let men like Obama see the wonders, of all these Jews returning home to Judea and Samara, the mountains of Zion.
Psalm 2:6
“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.”Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Love and grace in the name of Jesus the Messiah, the King of the Jews.
Written by Ivar
ivarfjeld.com 
Thank you…Amen
I think that the UN and everyone else needs to keeps their thoughts to themselves, Isreal should be able to build wherever they want, they reclaimed that land and it is rightfully theirs and Isreal will always, ALWAYS be Gods chosen people.
Amen
“Stalled peace negotiations in the Obama years cannot be blamed on Netanyahu’s policies of accelerating settlement construction. He has in fact slowed it down. What has undermined peace negotiations, rather, is Obama’s policy on the settlements – and the unrealistic expectations that policy has nourished.”
http://jcpa.org/article/israeli-settlements-american-pressure-and-peace/ to read more
Steven J. Rosen is Director of the Washington Project of the Middle East Forum. He served as Associate Director of the National Security Strategies Program at the RAND Corporation, followed by 23 years with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) where he was Director of Foreign Policy Issues.
Dear Jerusalem Center (JCPA.org).
Shalom.
I am honored by your comment on News That Matters. I have high regards for the work of this Institution in Israel.
I thank God of Israel for your work. May Yeshua the Messiah bless all the staff, and take care of your needs. Amen.
In regards to the settlements in Judea and Samaria, this blog stands on Biblical Zionism. There is no justification for the removal of a single Jewish home in these two districts of the promised land, Eretz Israel.