Israeli settler leader says settlements grew rapidly in 2017

A playground is seen in this general view photo of the Israeli settlement of Modiin Illit in the occupied West Bank, in this March 27, 2017 file photo. (REUTERS)
Updated 20 February 2018
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Israeli settler leader says settlements grew rapidly in 2017

JERUSALEM: The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank grew at nearly twice the rate of Israel’s overall population last year, a settler leader said Monday, predicting that settlement growth would surge even more in the coming years thanks in part to the Trump presidency.
Yaakov Katz said that President Donald Trump, backed by a Mideast team dominated by settler supporters, has created a friendly new atmosphere conducive to settlement growth after eight contentious years with the Obama White House.
“This is the first time, after years, that we are surrounded by people who really like us, love us, and they are not trying to be objective,” Katz said. “We have to thank God he sent Trump to be president of the United States.”
Katz is founder of “West Bank Jewish Population Stats,” a report sponsored by “Bet El Institutions,” a prominent settler organization that has ties to Trump’s closest Mideast advisers. He said the figures are based on official data from the Israeli Interior Ministry not yet available to the public.
According to his figures, the West Bank settler population reached 435,159 as of Jan. 1, up 3.4 percent from 420,899 a year earlier. The settler population has grown 21.4 percent in the last five years.
In comparison, Israel’s total population grew 1.8 percent to 8.743 million last year, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Katz said the rapid growth of the settlements should put to rest the idea of a two-state solution favored by the Palestinians and most of the international community.
Based on recent growth patterns, he said the West Bank settler population could approach 500,000 by the time Trump leaves office. His study did not include the more than 200,000 Israelis now living in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ hoped-for capital.
“We are changing the map,” he said. “The idea of the two-state solution is over. It is irreversible.”
The Palestinians seek the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for a future independent state. Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Mideast war, though it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
A string of US presidents, both Republican and Democrat, have endorsed the idea of a two-state solution and have joined the international community in opposing settlements as obstacles to peace.
But after years of failed US-led peace efforts, Trump has taken a different line. He says he would support a two-state solution only if both sides agree to it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist coalition is dominated by settler allies who oppose Palestinian independence.
Trump also has taken a softer stance toward the settlements, urging restraint at times but avoiding the strong condemnations of his predecessors. His ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, is a former president of Bet El Institutions. His chief Mideast adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, has donated to the group, and even Trump once sent a donation.
These deep ties to the settlements have helped fuel Palestinian suspicions of the White House. Those suspicions deepened after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December, prompting the Palestinians to say the US can no longer be an honest Mideast broker. Trump’s team has been working on a peace proposal, though it is not clear when it will be released.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the figures reflect an Israeli policy of building settlements to destroy the two-state solution. He said Trump’s muted response encourages more settlement building.
“What is required of the world, including the American administration, is to condemn the settlements as illegitimate and illegal and to recognize the principle of two states on the 1967 borders,” he said. “if they want to keep hope in any future peace process, they must stop these plans.”
Brian Reeves, spokesman for Peace Now, an anti-settlement monitoring group, said it could not corroborate Katz’s figures but that they are in the “ballpark” of its own estimates.
Katz said the settlement growth has been fueled both by natural growth of the population, which is heavily religious and tends to have larger families, as well as the attraction of cheaper housing in the West Bank.
He predicted even faster growth in the coming years, claiming that the Trump White House has given Netanyahu a “green light” to advance construction.
“Bibi is less afraid of what the president will say about him,” he said. “We are very, very, very happy with the Trump administration.”


Netanyahu appoints Yechiel Leiter as new ambassador to US

Updated 5 sec ago
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Netanyahu appoints Yechiel Leiter as new ambassador to US

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed US-born Yechiel Leiter, an official who previously served as chief of staff in the finance ministry, as the next Israeli ambassador to the United States.
“Yechiel Leiter is a highly capable diplomat, an eloquent speaker, and possesses a deep understanding of American culture and politics,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
His appointment was also welcomed by Yisrael Ganz, the head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing councils of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a territory Palestinians want as part of a future state.
Ganz said Leiter, who lives in the Gush Etzion settlement area, as “a key partner in English-language advocacy for Judea and Samaria,” a name used by many Israelis for the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Leiter’s appointment came three days after Donald Trump’s election to a second term as US president, celebrated by many Israelis because of his strong support for Israel.
As well as serving in the finance ministry, Leiter also held positions as deputy director general in the Education Ministry and acting chairman of the Israel Ports Company.
His son was killed last year in the Gaza war against Palestinian militant group Hamas while serving with the Israeli military.

Jordan’s King Abdullah returns home after meetings with King Charles, Keir Starmer during UK visit

Updated 5 min 35 sec ago
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Jordan’s King Abdullah returns home after meetings with King Charles, Keir Starmer during UK visit

  • King Abdullah met Starmer at Downing Street on Wednesday to discuss Middle East crises
  • Meeting with Charles III marked the Jordanian monarch’s silver jubilee — 25 years since ascending to the throne

LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan returned home on Friday following a working visit to the UK.

The visit this week featured key engagements with King Charles III and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Earlier in the visit, King Abdullah met Starmer at Downing Street on Wednesday, where discussions reinforced the close ties between the two kingdoms, Jordan News Agency reported.

They also called for an immediate ceasefire and stronger efforts for de-escalation and humanitarian aid in Gaza.

They warned that Israel’s ban on UNRWA activities could worsen the humanitarian crisis and highlighted the need to address violence in the West Bank.

The King emphasized the UK’s crucial role in seeking resolutions to regional conflicts and achieving a just, comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution, JNA added.

King Abdullah then met Charles at Windsor Castle on Thursday.

The occasion marked the Jordanian monarch’s silver jubilee — 25 years since ascending to the throne — and King Charles commemorated the milestone by presenting King Abdullah with a specially engraved silver beaker, featuring the ciphers of the king and queen.

The formal welcome at Windsor began with the Jordanian monarch receiving a royal salute, accompanied by the Jordanian national anthem.

Major Edward Emlyn-Williams, the captain of the guard, invited King Abdullah, in Arabic, to inspect the guard, followed by a military march-past.

The two kings exchanged conversation as they interacted with the guards before proceeding into the castle for tea.

The long-standing relationship between the two monarchs was highlighted by King Charles’s five visits to Jordan as Prince of Wales, most recently in 2021. King Abdullah’s last visit to Charles took place at Buckingham Palace in November 2022.

King Abdullah’s visit comes months after his son and heir, Crown Prince Hussein, and Crown Princess Rajwa welcomed their daughter, Princess Iman, in August.

Britain’s Prince and Princess of Wales attended the wedding of Hussein and Rajwa in June last year.


Israel says it will re-open crossing into Gaza as pressure builds to get more aid in

Updated 08 November 2024
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Israel says it will re-open crossing into Gaza as pressure builds to get more aid in

  • Aid agencies have warned of a gathering humanitarian crisis in the north of the enclave

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Friday it was planning to reopen the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza to increase the flow of aid into the southern end of the Gaza Strip.
The move comes amid growing international pressure on Israel to get more aid into Gaza, where aid agencies have warned of a gathering humanitarian crisis in the north of the enclave, where Israeli troops have been conducting a major operation for more than a month.
The new crossing would be opened following engineering work over recent weeks by army engineers to build inspection points and paved roads, the army said.
Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli officials demanding concrete measures to address the worsening situation in the Palestinian enclave.
The letter, which was posted to the Internet by a reporter from Axios, gave the Israeli government 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Among the demands included in the letter was for the opening of a fifth crossing into Gaza.


Sudan army govt accuses paramilitaries of causing 120 civilian deaths in 2 days

Updated 08 November 2024
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Sudan army govt accuses paramilitaries of causing 120 civilian deaths in 2 days

  • The Janjaweed militia (paramilitaries) committed a new massacre in the town of Hilaliya

PORT SUDAN: The Sudanese foreign ministry accused paramilitaries late Thursday of causing at least 120 civilian deaths over two days in Al-Jazira state, reportedly in attacks involving gunfire, food poisoning and lack of medical care.
“The Janjaweed militia (paramilitaries) committed a new massacre in the town of Hilaliya in Al-Jazira state over the past two days, resulting in 120 martyrs so far, killed either by gunfire or due to food poisoning and lack of medical care affecting hundreds of civilians,” the ministry of the army-backed government said in a statement obtained by AFP.


Yemen’s Houthi militants shoot down what they say was a US drone as American military investigates

Updated 08 November 2024
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Yemen’s Houthi militants shoot down what they say was a US drone as American military investigates

  • The US military acknowledged the videos circulating online showing what appeared to be a flaming aircraft dropping out of the sky
  • The Houthis claimed to have downed an American MQ-9 Reaper drone

DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militants shot down what they described as an American drone early Friday, potentially the latest downing of a US spy drone as the militants continue their attacks on the Red Sea corridor.
The US military acknowledged the videos circulating online showing what appeared to be a flaming aircraft dropping out of the sky and a field of burning debris in what those off-camera described as an area of Yemen’s Al-Jawf province. The military said it was investigating the incident, declining to elaborate further.
It wasn’t immediately clear what kind of aircraft was shot down in the low-quality night video. The Houthis, in a later statement, claimed to have downed an American MQ-9 Reaper drone.
The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft. Iran denies arming the militants, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi militants despite a United Nations arms embargo.
The Houthis have been a key component of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” during the Mideast wars that includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hamas and other militant groups.
Since Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the militants have shot down MQ-9 Reaper drones in Yemen in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024. The US military has declined to offer a total figure for the number of drones it has lost during that time.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the US military and the CIA over Yemen for years.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The militants maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. The tempo of the Houthi sea attacks also has waxed and waned over the months.
In October, the US military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by the Houthis.