Israel pushes ahead with plans for 3,000 new settler units

Rasa - The Israeli regime has advanced plans for the construction of more than 3,000 new settler units across the occupied West Bank in a week, a local NGO says.

News ID: 430198

Date: 08 June 2017 - 22:59

RNA - Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement group that monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, made the announcement on Thursday, saying that the Tel Aviv regime has served up plans for building a total of 3,178 units this week.

According to the body, the planning committee of the Israeli ministry for military affairs gave the go-ahead to plans for the construction of about 1,500 settler units in the occupied West Bank, the second announcement in a week.

On Tuesday, the regime advanced 1,500 units, with the potential to add around another 900, Peace Now said. Those 900 were also confirmed on Wednesday, it added.

Peace Now said the plans were at various stages of the approval process and the units were located in a number of settlements across the occupied West Bank.

The move is a blatant violation of the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 2334, which demands that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem” al-Quds.

The resolution, adopted last year, also states that the building of settlements by Israel has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”

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.

The latest developments come days after a visit by Trump to the occupied territories.

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.

The Palestinian Authority wants the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinians state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.The continued expansion of Israeli settlements is one of the major obstacles to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.

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