Settler units sprout in 'dangerous' numbers under Trump

Rasa - An Israeli activist group says the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank increased during the first year of US President Donald Trump in office.

News ID: 436999

Date: 26 March 2018 - 21:18

RNA - Peace Now said Israel began the building of 2,783 settlement units in 2017, an increase of about 17 percent compared to the annual average since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in 2009.

It noted that 78 percent of the new units were in outlying settlements that would likely have to be evacuated if a Palestinian state were established.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built illegally since the 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories.

The continued expansion of settlements is one of the major obstacles to the establishment of peace in the Middle East.

According to Peace Now, the data was collected through aerial surveys and inspections by monitors on the ground. The group stopped short of blaming the hike in settlement growth exclusively on the policies of the US administration.

“The steady pace of construction and building deep in the West Bank attest to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s steadfast abetting of the settlement enterprise,” the report said.

“It is also apparent that the new US presidency in 2017 had no marginal deterrent effect on these Israeli unilateral moves,” it added.

The West Bank settler movement has issued its own data showing growth in their communities.

In February, a settler leader, using official government data, said the West Bank settler population saw a 3.4 percent increase last year to more than 435,000 people. The figure is nearly twice the growth rate of Israel’s overall population.

The Peace Now report added to the Palestinian mistrust of the US administration’s role in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Relations between the US and Palestine have been strained since December 2017 when Trump recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s so-called capital and vowed to relocate the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.

According to Press TV, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that his side would no longer accept Washington as a mediator in the so-called peace process.

Jerusalem al-Quds remains at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians hoping that the eastern part of the city would eventually serve as the capital of their future independent state.

Nabil Shaath, a top adviser to Abbas, condemned the figures, saying it proved that Netanyahu is “not interested in peace.”

“Netanyahu is continuing his settlement project, enjoying the fact that the US is silent,” he said, adding, “These numbers are very dangerous. We condemn it, and will continue working politically to stop it.”

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