Bouwaktiviteiten binnen bestaande nederzettingen Westoever mogen nog, niet?

Gaat Israël door met het bouwen in nederzettingen? Wat is een 'settlement freeze'? Wat is 'natural growth'?

Ik ben bepaald niet de enige die geen duidelijk antwoord op deze vragen kan geven.

Volgens de Jerusalem Post:

PMO: No more expansion of West Bank settlements
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 17, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847365226&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Prime Minister's Office released a statement Monday evening stating that according to government policy, no Israeli settlements in the West Bank will be expanded.

The PMO stressed that no new construction would be authorized in existing settlements, no additional land would be authorized for construction, and no new settlements would be established.

Volgens Haaretz:

Officials: Israel to allow construction in existing W. Bank settlements
By Reuters Last update - 23:36 17/12/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/935491.html

Israel will allow construction within built up areas of existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but will not expand beyond those areas, Israeli officials said on Monday.
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While Israel's decision would allow construction within existing built-up areas, the land that lies between existing buildings and the much larger outer jurisdictional boundaries of the settlements would be off limits, officials said.

The first round of the peace talks following Annapolis opened in discord last week after the Palestinians demanded a halt to Israeli plans to build some 300 new homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood known to Israelis as Har Homa and to the Palestinians as Abu Ghneim.

The senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Har Homa development plan was approved 10 years ago by the Israeli government and called for 6,500 units, 4,500 of which are already being built and lived in.

"We told the Americans and the Palestinians that in those places, within the built-up line, Israel will continue to build, because there is no other way," the official said.

The official said the fate of Har Homa and other building projects depended on the outcome of the negotiations, which Olmert and Abbas said they hoped to complete before Bush leaves office in January 2009.

"If Har Homa will not be part of Israel, it doesn't matter if Har Homa is 5,000 units or 6,000 units, Har Homa will be dismantled," the official said.
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The official said Israel defined a settlement freeze as a commitment not to build any new settlements and not to confiscate any additional Palestinian lands for settlement use.

Included in its definition of a settlement freeze, the official said Israel will not provide economic incentives for more Israelis to move to existing settlements.

"It doesn't mean people cannot go and live in existing settlements. Where there are vacant places, vacant apartments, people can go and live there with their families," he said.

"If somebody bought an empty lot in one of the settlements 10 years ago and he owns it, and he decides now in the year 2007, 10 or 15 years after he purchased it, to build on it, the government of Israel cannot do anything about it."

The official said it was unclear what "natural growth" included.