UN Mideast envoy slams Israel's renewed building
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAST UPDATED: 10/21/2010 22:34
Robert Serry : settlement construction "illegal under international law," says "will only further undermine trust."
Pisgat Ze'ev construction Photo: AP
JERUSALEM — The UN's Mideast envoy Robert Serry on Thursday criticized Israel's renewed building in West Bank settlements in response to an Associated Press investigation.
The
AP report showed that Israel has begun building at least 544 apartments
since a 10-month building moratorium in the settlements expired late
last month.
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In a statement, Serry called the AP report "alarming." He said
settlement construction is "illegal under international law" and "will
only further undermine trust."
The AP survey, while
not comprehensive, marks the most extensive effort yet to quantify the
construction. It was based on visits to 16 of the West Bank's more than
120 settlements as well as phone calls to more than four dozen
settlements and interviews with construction workers and mayors.
"This figure is alarming and is another indicator that Israel is not
serious about the peace process, which is supposed to be about ending
the occupation," said Ghassan Khatib, spokesman for Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas' self-rule government in the West Bank.