A proposal by the Civil Administration has been approved by the security cabinet for construction of housing for PA Arabs in Area C, near the Jewish community of Susiya.
In a statement on Thursday, (Oct. 27), Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel of the Bayit Yehudi party slammed the approval of the plan, which came in a secret vote in mid-September, according to a report by Ha’aretz.
The proposal, initiated by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, comes as part of a plan to strengthen the presence of the moderate Arab population.
“The program’s goal is to do good by those prepared to live in co-existence with us, and on the other hand make things harder for those planning terror attacks,” Liberman said, according to Ha’aretz.
Ariel demanded a review of the plans by the full government at its weekly cabinet meeting this coming Sunday.
“I demand this be debated by the cabinet. Such a decision should be taken by the entire cabinet, not a secret cabinet that tries to hide it from other cabinet members,” he added.
“I hope it will be raised at the next meeting this Sunday and of course we will seek to thwart the idea raised by the security cabinet.”
In particular, objections to Arab construction in Area C are rising in light of the insistence by the High Court of Justice that the Jewish community of Amona must be demolished by the end of this year, despite the fact that the “private land” on which the community was built seems to be abandoned.
To this day, not one resident of the Palestinian Authority has come forward to claim ownership of the land on which the community is built.