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========================== F  r  e  e  d  o  m ==========================
  auto-info: help@alquds.net  >>>> Linking Palestinians & Their Friends
=========================================================================

Netanyahu to Boost Settlement Funds 

By Jack Katzenell 
Associated Press Writer 
Tuesday, October 28, 1997; 3:39 p.m. EST 

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Despite a promise to consider a
timeout in Jewish settlement building, Prime Minister 
Benjamin intends to spend $300 million on the disputed 
communities next year, Israeli peace activists said 
Tuesday. 

The 1998 budget, which totals $55 billion, has not yet 
been approved by parliament, and the Finance Ministry had 
no immediate comment on the figure cited by Peace Now. 

The peace group, which advocates creation of a Palestinian
state alongside Israel, arrived at the figure after a 
lengthy analysis of the budget, which spans thousands of 
pages and was submitted to Parliament on Monday. 

Spending on settlements is scattered among hundreds of
budget items, including roads, construction, education and 
tax incentive programs. Several government officials 
contacted by The Associated Press said they did not know 
the total figure. 

However, ministry spokeswoman Esty Appelbaum said
investing in settlements was compatible with government 
policy. ``The Israeli government operates on the economic 
and political platform it was elected on,'' she said. 

Peace Now spokesman Mossi Raz said the budget allocation
for settlements -- which he said is about 20 percent higher
than this year's figure -- proves Netanyahu's pledge to 
Washington was ``one big swindle.'' 

``It was supposed to be a timeout on the settlements. But 
it's like in basketball,'' he said. ``It lasted a minute, 
no longer.'' 

In the West Bank, several dozen Israelis and Palestinians
protested Tuesday against government plans to expand the
largest Jewish settlement, Maaleh Adumim, and link it with
Jerusalem. The plan would complete a ring of settlements
around Jerusalem and cut off east Jerusalem -- the sector
claimed by the Palestinians as a future capital -- from 
the West Bank. 

Also Tuesday, Israel demolished three Palestinian-owned
homes in the West Bank village of Zatar, near the town of
Bethlehem, on grounds they were built without permits. 

One homeowner, 24-year-old Munther Wahsh, said he had
hoped to move his wife and four children into a new home.
``By destroying my house, they destroyed my dream of 
living a stable life,'' Wahsh said. 

During her Middle East visit last month, Secretary of 
State Madeleine Albright had urged Netanyahu to refrain 
from unilateral actions such as demolishing Palestinian 
homes and new settlement building, to improve relations 
with the Palestinians. 

Albright had hoped to host peace talks in Washington this
week between Yasser Arafat's deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, and
Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy. But it is unlikely 
the meeting will take place because Israel's government 
has yet to determine its negotiating position. 

Palestinians demand that Israel halt Jewish settlement 
building and make good on its promise to hand over large 
chunks of the West Bank in three stages by mid-1998. 
However, it appeared unlikely Israel would agree to 
either demand. 

Peace Now said the budget earmarks over $300 million for
investment in Jewish settlements while cutting services in 
Israel. 

The question of how much it spends on settlements is a
politically delicate one for the Netanyahu government, 
which counts on support both from factions that support 
expansion of the settlements and those who believe they 
are a hindrance to the peace process. 

Raz, a spokesman for Peace Now, said the biggest item in 
the settlement allocation is $85 million for tax breaks 
for settlers -- a benefit that had been cancelled by the 
previous Labor government and restored by Netanyahu. 

Other figures from the Peace Now analysis include: 

--The Housing Ministry is to spend about $76 million to
compensate land owners for property that will be 
expropriated by the government for settlement construction. 

--The Ministry of Agriculture has allocated $56 million to
encourage Israeli farmers to move to settlements. 

--The Housing Ministry is to spend $36 million on
infrastructure and development for housing in the 
settlements, and another $14 million on grants to settlers 
buying homes -- another benefit restored by Netanyahu. 

--The Public Works Department is to spend $29 million on
bypass roads to enable settlers to avoid driving through
Palestinian towns. 

           Copyright 1997 The Associated Press



 
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