Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has called on his government to respond to the death of three teenage West Bank settlers by embarking on a fresh settlement drive that would include new settlements built in the trio's memory, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, Ya'alon presented a plan during a Monday cabinet meeting – prepared by Israel's Civil Administration authorities – featuring proposals for expanding Israeli settlement projects.
Proposals, the paper reported, included issuing construction tenders for thousands of new housing units in settlement blocs located on occupied Palestinian land.
The plan also includes a proposal for construction of a new settlement inside one of the blocs to be named after the three slain settlers, the paper said.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, however, opposed the move, threatening to vote down the cabinet decision.
"It is wrong to split the nation along ideological lines of [settlement] construction that the entire nation is not behind," Livni was quoted as saying.
On Monday night, the Israeli army confirmed that the three settlers – who went missing on June 12 from a Jewish-only settlement in the southern West Bank – had been found dead near the city of Hebron.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Gaza-based Palestinian faction Hamas for the settlers' deaths.
"Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay," Netanyahu said at an emergency meeting of Israel's security cabinet.
The disappearance of the three settlers had prompted Israel to launch a major search operation across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In the almost three weeks since, Israel has rounded up hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, including lawmakers, former cabinet ministers and Hamas members.
Although no Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the settlers' disappearance or death, Netanyahu has repeatedly accused Hamas – without producing any evidence to support the assertion – of having abducted and murdered them.
By Turgut Alp Boyraz
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
