In the case of Beit Safafa, the Israeli government had put together a plan to completely encircle the Palestinian town with several Jewish-only settlements, thus cutting off the town from the rest of the West Bank and Jerusalem.
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Israeli soldiers secure the scene of a shooting attack near Hebron, West Bank, Friday, July 1, 2016.
The official said construction would include 560 new homes in Maale Adumim, just outside Jerusalem, as well as almost 200 in the city itself.
Over the last nine months, Palestinians have carried out dozens of attacks that have killed 33 Israelis and two Americans.
The plan also called for over 600 new homes in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem.
According to the reports, 560 homes will be built in Maale Adumim, a large settlement in the West Bank.
The EU urged Israel to stop this policy and to reverse its recent decision.
A week ago, a 13-year-old Israeli-American girl was stabbed to death in an Arab settlement on the outskirts of West Bank, which along with other attacks on Israeli citizens, prompted Israeli officials to put the city in lockdown and search for assailants.
A day after Thursday’s attack, 48-year-old Israeli Michael Mark was killed after his vehicle was sacked on by a suspected Palestinian gunman south of Hebron.
The offices of Netanyahu and Lieberman refused to comment on the reported approvals, which follow calls inside Israel for a harsh response to the latest spate of Palestinian attacks.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli security forces Sunday morning detained six Palestinians in the greater Hebron area, including Tarayrah’s sister.
The approval comes days after a key worldwide report warned that Israel’s settlement expansion and confiscation of Palestinian land were eroding the possibility of a two-state peace settlement.
According to the report, the decision to cut relations with the Quartet was made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who alleges that the global committee is siding with Israel.
“We say to the murderers: You will not break us”. “Can anyone question that illegal settlements … are not undermining the prospect for a two-state solution?”
The Israeli military’s occupation of Hebron has seen the closure of Shuhada Street, the main thoroughfare and business center for Palestinians in the city, and checkpoints in the center of the city severely restricting the movement of Palestinians. Hundreds attended her funeral Thursday evening in Hebron, a city with long-standing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the cabinet on Sunday that a series of measures had been taken “including aggressive ones which had not been used in the past” to respond to such attacks.
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Israeli forces have killed at least 199 Palestinians, more than half of which Israel said were attackers.
