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Secret Israeli database reveals full extent of illegal settlement

There has been little doubt about it, but Haaretz reveals in an article just published that an official database obtained by the newspaper shows that Israel has been engaged in building illegal settlements, often on land owned by Palestinians:

"The official database, the most comprehensive one of its kind ever compiled in Israel about the territories, was recently obtained by Haaretz. Here, for the first time, information the state has been hiding for years is revealed. An analysis of the data reveals that, in the vast majority of the settlements - about 75 percent - construction, sometimes on a large scale, has been carried out without the appropriate permits or contrary to the permits that were issued. The database also shows that, in more than 30 settlements, extensive construction of buildings and infrastructure (roads, schools, synagogues, yeshivas and even police
stations) has been carried out on private lands belonging to Palestinian West Bank residents."

Meanwhile, the Haaretz also reports in "Netanyahu: I'm not bound by Olmert pledges, won't evacuate settlements" on what ought to be troubling - and guaranteed to prolong the Palestine- Israel conflict - given that the outcome of the upcoming Israeli election will most likely result in Benjamin Netanyahu [who had to resign as PM some years back because of a scandal involving he and his wife] becoming PM:

"Likud Party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he would not be bound by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's commitments to evacuate West Bank settlements and withdraw from the territories.

"I will not keep Olmert's commitments to withdraw and I won't evacuate settlements. Those understandings are invalid and unimportant," Netanyahu said.

Together with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Olmert arrived at these understandings in final status talks with the Palestinians, which included settlement evacuation, dividing Jerusalem and returning to 1967 borders.

After Netanyahu and senior Likud officials blasted Olmert and Livni's "promises" and accused Livni of agreeing to divide Jeruslem, she was forced to disassociate herself from the understandings.

"I will advance only an agreement that represents our interests. Maintaining maximum settlers and places that we hold dear such as Jerusalem - not a single refugee will enter," Livni said. "This morning's headline does not represent me or what I stand for," she told students at the Tel Aviv Academic College."

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