Israel approved on Sunday plans to build hundreds of new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, projects it is advancing in the final days of the pro-settlement Trump administration.
Time to take Mideast peace process out of deep freeze
Opinion: Normalization with Israel will advance because it responds to Arab state interests; Palestinians have already seen they cannot stop it, and it presents both opportunity for region and revived role for U.S. as sole broker with true leverage
Dennis Ross |
Published: 01.17.21 , 23:50
After Ariel Sharon announced his intention to withdraw from Gaza but months before Israel actually did so in 2005, I gave speech in Gaza City to the Palestinian Council on Foreign Relations.
Between 200-300 Palestinians were in attendance and I emphasized that Palestinians had a real moment of opportunity: take advantage of the Israeli withdrawal to promote economic development and good governance in Gaza; do so, and the international community (and the Israeli public) will say if it works in Gaza why not also the West Bank.
The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now said that over 90 per cent of the homes lay deep inside the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as the heartland of a future independent state.