Israel plans to okay building 2,000 settler units in West Bank, al-Quds: Report

The Israeli regime plans to approve the construction of hundreds of settler units in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem al-Quds, a report reveals.

News ID: 448187

Date: 30 December 2019 - 10:04

RNA - The Israeli Civil Administration would okay the construction of some 2,000 settler units in isolated settlements and outposts in the coming days according to a report by Israel's leading daily Haaretz as quoted by the Palestine Information Center on Sunday.

The governing body, which operates in the West Bank, is a subordinate to a larger entity known as Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a unit in Israel's Ministry for Military Affairs that oversees civil matters in the Palestinian territories.

According to the report, the plan would be launched in compliance with recent remarks made by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about his intent to approve the building of 3,000 settler units in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem al-Quds.

In September, Netanyahu also announced that he would soon order the annexation of the northern Jordan Valley and would seek support from the administration of US President Donald Trump to annex West Bank settlements to be part of the occupying regime

Earlier this month, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, said that Tel Aviv had advanced or approved plans for more than 22,000 settler units in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, al-Quds, in the course of just three years since the UN Security Council, in late 2016, adopted a resolution slamming settlements on Palestinian land.

During the past three years, the Israeli regime also issued tenders for around 8,000 settler units, the UN official further said at the time, stressing that the shocking number of the units “should be of serious concern to all those who continue to support the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.”

Last month, the White House announced that it no longer viewed Israel’s construction of new settler units in the occupied West Bank “inconsistent with” international law, a provocative stance, about which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his deep regrets.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem, al-Quds, as its capital.

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