RNA - “The Foreign Ministry expresses concern for the intensified expansion of Israel’s settlements, testified by the Israeli authorities’ recent approval of the plan to build 944 housing units in Pisgat Ze’ev settlement,” said a ministry statement, WAFA reported.
“The decision runs against the two-state perspective and undermines the chance of assuring a future of peace and security to the parties,” the statement added.
Last month, Israel began work on the first new settlement in the West Bank in 25 years to house rightwing settlers expelled from the illegal outpost of Amona in February. Since April 2016, work began on 2,758 dwellings, compared to 1,619 during the previous 12 months.
Israel advanced plans for a further 1,500 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, the second such announcement in a week. The announcement came after the United Nations' latest call on Israel to pull out of territories captured in the 1967 war.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, including annexed East Jerusalem, which is seen as a major obstacle to peace between Israel and Palestinians. They live alongside some 3 million Palestinians.
After the 1967 war, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and deems the entire city its "indivisible and eternal capital," a status not recognized internationally. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and it is now ruled by Hamas.
The international community regards all Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories to be illegal and a major obstacle to Middle East peace.
The area, captured by Israel in 1967, is not sovereign Israeli territory and Palestinians there are not Israeli citizens and do not have the right to vote. Palestinians accuse Israel of waging an aggressive campaign to "Judaize" the historic city with the aim of effacing its identity and driving out its Palestinian inhabitants.
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