Israel defies world pressure

Israel's government yesterday stood firm in the face of mounting international pressure as it pushed ahead with a swathe of settlement plans seen as threatening the viability of a future Palestinian state.
Israel showed no sign of changing its stance even as Australia became the latest nation to summon the Israeli ambassador to protest plans to build 3,000 new settler homes in a critical area of the West Bank near Jerusalem.
In addition to that, Late on Monday, Israel said it would also revive plans for another 1,600 homes in annexed east Jerusalem, which caused a major diplomatic rift with Washington when it was first announced in March 2010.
Israel has not given details or a timeframe for the new settlement construction, which drew praise from hardline commentators.
Israel's settlement plans have always raised hackles but Friday's proposals -- seen as payback for the Palestinians securing the UN rank of a non-member state a day earlier -- are considered particularly contentious as such construction would effectively cut the West Bank in half.
The area in question is a corridor of West Bank land called E1 which runs between the easternmost edge of annexed east Jerusalem and the nearby Maaleh Adumim settlement.
Should construction in E1 go ahead, connecting Jerusalem with Maaleh Adumim, it will make the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state almost impossible.
Israeli plans for E1 have been in the works since the early 1990s but have never been implemented due to heavy pressure, largely from the United States.
The international outcry since Friday's move has been intense, with UN chief Ban Ki-moon warning that should Israel build in E1, "it would represent an almost fatal blow to remaining chances of securing a two-state solution."
On Monday, France, Britain, Spain, Denmark and Sweden all summoned the Israeli ambassadors to protest the plans, which also drew criticism from Russia, Germany and Japan.
Diplomats quoted by the paper were quick to point out that such a coordinated move by so many countries was likely to have been done with the approval of Washington.
"The White House authorised Europe to pounce on the Netanyahu government and to punish it," wrote Yediot columnist Shimon Shiffer.