Netanyahu urges residents of illegal West Bank outpost to accept compromise offer and move to new neighborhood on State-owned land. Settlers: He's learned nothing from Gaza pullout

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Peace Now Director Yariv Oppenheimer called Netanyahu's offer a "cynical spin that is aimed at thwarting the implementation of the court's decision and delaying the outpost's evacuation by several years.

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A new report by Peace Now's Settlement Watch project shows that 2011 was a record year in West Bank settlement construction. Worse, the past years highlighted dangerous trends on the ground in the West Bank, which may end up torpedoing a two-state solution: an Israeli government intention to legalize illegal outposts and thus transform them into full-fledged settlements, and building in sensitive locations such as E-1, Efrat, and Givat Hamatos, which would deny contiguity for a future Palestinian state.

Middle East Online: "Peace Now: Jerusalem settlement activity went sky-high in 2011"

Ha'aretz: "Peace Now: Israel began building 1,850 new houses in West Bank in 2011"

Reuters: "Israel breaking settlement records, says Peace Now"

YNET: "Peace Now: Settlement construction soared in 2011"

CBS News (AP): "Watchdog: Israel settlement building up 20 percent"

Jerusalem Post: "East J'lem construction increased 7-fold in 2011"

"Elkin's cooperation with right-wing extremists is even more dangerous than MKs aboard the [Gaza-bound] Marmara flotilla [in 2010]," (Peace Now Secretary General Yariv) Oppenheimer said.

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By LAHAV HARKOV AND MELANIE LIDMAN
01/09/2012 02:52



Rightist MKs condemn indictments against activists.

Ha'aretz: "Israel bill to force Palestinians to prove ownership over land used for West Bank outposts"

LA Times: "Settlement outposts at root of Jewish violence in West Bank"

Ma'an: "Report: Netanyahu delays law restricting outpost evictions"

Jerusalem Post: "Agreement reached with state to save Ramat Gilad outpost"

LA Times Blog: "Israel to legalize West Bank outpost, mulling more construction"

AFP: "Israel to legalize, not demolish, illegal settlement"

The State of Israel is changing before our eyes dramatically, and the prime minister must decide whether he wants to stop the deterioration or remain a partner to it.

Settlement watchdog Peace Now said the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was pursuing the well-worn path of creating facts on the ground in a bid to block any two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Netanyahu's government not only is not promoting peace, but it is doing everything it can to prevent it by setting facts on the ground that will prevent a two-state solution," said Peace Now's Hagit Ofran.

"Generally speaking, since Netanyahu gave his speech to the US Congress (in May), and since there was no official decision against Israel in the UN, he is allowing himself to do whatever he wants to continue preventing the peace process," she told AFP.

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According to information published by the Construction and Housing Ministry on Sunday, 500 of the units will be located in Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem. Left-wing activists see Har Homa as one of the most controversial Jewish neighborhoods in the capital, because it was started after the Oslo Accords were signed and because it creates a barrier of Jewish homes between east Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods and Bethlehem. "[Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu is not only attempting not to make peace, he's also going forward with plans that will make peace impossible in the future and make it impossible to have two states for two peoples," said Hagit Ofran, who heads Peace Now's Settlement Watch team.

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Opposition to the campaign mounted after Yariv Oppenheimer, director general of Peace Now, announced on Facebook that he was closing his Bank Leumi account...The rules of the campaign clearly stated that no political organizations were allowed to participate, and opponents of Im Tirzu (from both the left and the right) contended that the organization's attempt to disguise its right-wing political agenda is disingenuous.

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New route would link northeast neighborhoods to capital's main Begin Boulevard; Peace Now: Plan is illegal use of occupied land, endangers two-state solution.

By Akiva Eldar