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News > World

Israelis Approve 1.3k Settlement Units in Occupied West Bank

  • Israeli flags and signs are seen at a military camp in the West Bank city of Hebron October 17, 2017.

    Israeli flags and signs are seen at a military camp in the West Bank city of Hebron October 17, 2017. | Photo: Reuters

Published 17 October 2017
Opinion

They are part of nearly 4,000 settler home plans to be advanced in the West Bank under a push to greatly boost settlement growth, an Israeli official has said.

Israeli authorities are swiftly advancing their massive expansion of settlement units in the Occupied West Bank with the recent approval to construct 1,292 settler homes, according to nongovernmental organization Peace Now.

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Tel Aviv approved the plans Tuesday and would likely grant 1,113 further approvals on Wednesday, bringing a number of approved units to at least 2,413, according to the NGO.

They are part of nearly 4,000 settler-home plans to be advanced in the West Bank under a push to greatly boost settlement growth, an Israeli official has said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have escalated support to Israeli settlements — which are considered illegal under international law and even Israeli law

“They are all over the West Bank,” spokeswoman Hagit Ofran told AFP without immediately providing a breakdown.

Since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump in January 2017, Tel Aviv has drastically boosted the construction of settler units on occupied Palestinian land in blatant defiance of international law.

Less than a month before Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, which called on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.”

The people of occupied Palestine want the West Bank to be a part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Trump has said it would be “nice” if the Israelis held back from expanding settlements, he has also said that his administration “very, very strongly” backs Tel Aviv’s exclusive claim to the contested city of Jerusalem, where he would “love” to see a U.S. embassy built.

The U.S. president also announced breaking with the post positions of successive administrations by casually remarking that future peace deals between the Palestinian Authority, the Israelis and regional Arab can result in “two-state (or) one-state ... I like the one that both parties like.”

The continued expansion of Israeli settlements is one of the major obstacles to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.

“The government has gone wild with settlement plans deep in the West Bank for thousands of new settlers, whom Israel will have to evacuate in a two-state solution agreement,” Peace Now said in a statement. “Faced with the growing pressures and (corruption) investigations, Netanyahu goes out of his way to prove how radical he is, without considering the consequences of massive settlement expansion on the future of the two-state solution.”

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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