RAMALLAH – The Israeli Housing Ministry Tuesday issued tenders for the construction of 1,285 new housing units in East Jerusalem and in West Bank settlements, the anti-settlement Israeli watchdog Peace Now said. Peace Now said in a statement that the 606 housing units will be constructed in Ramot settlement to the northwest of occupied Jerusalem. The group added that 607 housing units will be constructed in Pisgat Ze'ev settlement located to the north of the occupied city. The group added that an additional 72 units are slated for the West Bank settlement of Ariel, to the southwest of Nablus. Peace Now called the tenders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ”true answer” to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and linked the issue to US elections. In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 that was aired on Thursday, Abbas urged a return to negotiations, saying that he did not want to return to his birthplace of Safad and that a Palestinian state would be established only in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as the capital. Abbas also said that as long as he is in power there will not be another armed intifada. “It seems that Netanyahu is afraid of the new administration that is being elected today in the US, and he has chosen the day of election to publish the tenders so that there will be the least public attention to his action,” it concluded.
