News / Palestine

Israel approves construction of 650 new settler units near Ramallah

Tuesday, 21 August 2018 3:15 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 21 August 2018 3:18 PM ]

A picture taken on July 24, 2018 shows a view of ongoing construction work at Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in the mainly Palestinian eastern sector of Jerusalem al-Quds. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli officials have approved plans for the construction of hundreds of new housing units at a settlement in the central part of the occupied West Bank irrespective of the international outcry against the Tel Aviv regime’s land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom reported on Tuesday that the authorities have given the green light for 650 units to be built in Beit El settlement adjacent to Ramallah.

The report added that the settler units will accommodate extremists from Olbana and Darinov neighborhoods, whom were evacuated from their areas in 2012 and 2015 respectively.

Less than a month before US President Donald 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.

General view of the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem al-Quds in the occupied West Bank with the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim seen in the background as Israeli police claimed the village closed military area on July 5, 2018. (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.

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US Israel Palestine West Bank Jerusalem Al-Quds Middle East Benjamin Netanyahu Ramallah Security Council Netanyahu East al-Quds United Nations settlements Trump UN