Washington has criticized Israel’s announced settlement expansion in the occupied territories, once again stressing that increased construction activity jeopardizes the two-state solution between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
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“We are deeply concerned by the government’s announcement to advance plans for these settlement units in the West Bank”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a news briefing.
Israel approved on Wednesday 284 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, drawing a US accusation that its policies could expand settlements in a “potentially unlimited way”.
The approval was made by the Civil Administration’s High Planning Committee, Israel’s official regulator for construction projects in the occupied West Bank.
The committee has also declared legal the 179 existing houses in Beit Arye, built in the 1980s.
Wednesday’s decision prompted a swift condemnation from the White House.
The spat drew new attention to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which has continued to move forward during a more than two-year freeze in Mideast peace efforts.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, 30 August 2016.
The United States has urged Israel and the Palestinians to “take meaningful steps” to build trust, but Israel has instead promoted the building of thousands of new settlement homes.
“It is hard to read in these actions a genuine intention to work toward a viable two-state solution”, Mladenov said.
The Palestinians see east Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967 and later annexed, as the capital of their future state. Under worldwide law, the settlements are considered illegal.
USA -negotiated peace talks collapsed over two years ago, in part over the issue of settlements.
“The US could fully support the French Initiative, or abstain from using its veto at the UN Security Council”, Daghlas said.
Much of the violence has occurred in the Hebron area in the southern West Bank, a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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So when self-proclaimed “outpost entrepreneur” Shimon Riklin brings a few ramshackle trailers into the West Bank and occupies some hilltop, officials have little reason to care, and even if the Palestinians complain, there is little incentive to do anything about it.
