US warns Israel not to destroy illegal Arab construction

The Obama administration is pressuring the Israeli government not to carry out the demolition of several buildings in Sussiya, an illegal Arab outpost, threatening a severe response from Washington.

US officials visited Sussiya, an illegal Arab outpost near Hebron, on Wednesday in a bid to prevent Israel from destroying illegal Arab buildings there.

“If the Israeli government proceeds with demolitions it would be very troubling,” State Department Press Office director Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters in Washington.

The UK and European Union (EU) have also been urging Israel not to destroy the Arab buildings.

Rabbis for Human Rights, a left-wing Israeli NGO, has appealed orders by the Israeli authorities to destroy the buildings.

Notwithstanding the American threat, the Civil Administration on Tuesday destroyed five illegal structures in the town of Umm el-Kheir, also near Hebron, a number of which had been built with the help of the EU.

The EU consistently violates international law by trying to establish facts on the ground through illegal construction on disputed territories which are under Israeli control.

Regavim, an Israeli NGO that monitors illegal Arab construction not only in Judea and Samaria, but throughout the country, called on Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who will submit a formal response to the issue in the Supreme Court, not to ignore “improper foreign intervention in internal Israeli matters.”

“These are idle threats brought on by radical left-wing organizations, which ignore the laws over and over again and abuse the Supreme Court’s legal process.”

On a number of occasions, Israeli authorities have ordered the demolition of illegal construction.

During the last week of July, 20 illegal Arab structures in the Jerusalem region were destroyed. “The national unit will continue to enforce the law and exercise its responsibilities regarding any violation of planning and building laws,” the Israeli national planning and construction enforcement unit said in a statement.

By: World Israel News Staff