News / Palestine

Israel to construct 2,000 new settler units in occupied West Bank

Monday, 25 September 2017 2:44 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 September 2017 3:00 PM ]

A picture taken on September 10, 2017 from Jabel Mukaber, a Palestinian neighborhood in the Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds shows the Israeli settlement of Nof Zion. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli officials are expected to advance plans for the construction of 2,000 new settler units in the occupied West Bank irrespective of the international outcry against the Israeli regime’s land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in Palestinian territories.

An unnamed Israeli official told Israel's Hebrew-language Haaretz newspaper that the plans could be approved within the next week.

The official added that the plans would be advanced right after the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which ends on October 11, in case they failed to proceed next week.

Haaretz noted that one of the few plans expected to obtain the final approval was a plan for the construction of an additional 300 settler units in the Beit El settlement adjacent to the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

Since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump in January, the regime in Tel Aviv has stepped up its construction of settler units on occupied Palestinian land in a blatant violation of international law.

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

A picture taken on September 10, 2017 from Jabel Mukaber, a Palestinian neighborhood in the Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds shows the Israeli settlement of Nof Zion in the foreground. (Photo by AFP)

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 al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.

Trump backtracked on Washington’s support for a “two-state solution” earlier this year, saying he would support any solution favored by both sides.

“Looking at two-state or one-state, I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the one both parties like. I can live with either one,” the US president said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on February 15.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk