PA condemns settlement plans

The Palestinian Authority on Thursday strongly condemned Israel's approval of hundreds of new settlement units built on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. The published bids for new settlement units "are a blatant example of Israel’s unilateral actions and noncommittal to international laws and understandings," the PA cabinet said. "It is time for the international community to intervene with practical and convincing measures to end settlement activity and the continuous theft of Palestinian land," ministers said after a weekly meeting. Israel plans this week to invite tenders for the construction of 2,230 new homes in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said. Officials have reiterated the PA's stance that peace talks can only start when Israel freezes settlement building, which it considers a violation of the US-backed road map that is also illegal under international law. At Thursday's cabinet meeting, chaired by Salam Fayyad in Ramallah, ministers also condemned the demolition of four homes in a village near Jericho on the pretext they lacked construction permits. These actions in the Jordan Valley area show "a clear Israeli policy aiming to drain it from its Palestinian inhabitants and reinforce its colonization through settlements," the PA cabinet said. It also formed a national team for IT security in order to protect national electronic networks after they were subjected to hacking from multiple locations last week, shutting down Internet in the occupied territories.