Palestine slams Israel's new plan on construction of 2,200 settlement units in West Bank

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Thursday slammed the new Israeli plans to approve the construction of 2,200 settlement units in the occupied West Bank.

"We condemn what was circulated by Israeli media on the occupation authorities' intention to approve the construction of 2,200 settlement units in the West Bank to expand [the existing] settlements," a ministry statement said.

The statement considered the Israeli new settlement plans as "a flagrant aggression on the Palestinian people" and "a hard blow to the international and US efforts to revive the peace process."

A security source told AFP the permits for Jewish settlements would come alongside approvals for hundreds of Palestinian homes in the large swathe of the West Bank known as Area C, where Israel exercises military and planning control.

"There is an expectation to approve about 1,000 housing units for Palestinians in Area C next week and 2,000 housing units in the Jewish communities," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Biden is reportedly to meet with Bennett in the near future, though his office did not specify a date.

Bennett, a former director of the Yesha Council settler lobby, faced criticism from dovish partners in his coalition, as well as from Israeli settler advocates in the opposition.

Seven lawmakers from the dovish Meretz party, three of them, ministers wrote to Defence Minister Benny Gantz opposing the approval of more homes for settlers.

"Settlements are immoral, settlements are illegal, they endanger our relations with Palestinians and the world," Meretz lawmaker Mossi Raz told public radio. But he stopped short of threatening to quit the ruling coalition.

Opposition lawmaker Bezalel Smotrich of the nationalist Religious Zionism bloc said on Twitter that approving homes in Palestinian towns was "harming Israeli communities".

According to an analysis by settlement watchdog Peace Now, the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration intends to approve about 860 homes for Palestinian villages, and just shy of 2,000 units in settlements.

Peace Now said the approvals for Palestinians came after years of rejection from uncooperative Israeli authorities.

"It is a very small expansion of the Palestinian villages and a drop in the ocean in terms of real Palestinian development needs," the group said.
Israel seized the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967. Since then, nearly 700,000 Israelis have moved into settlements that most of the international community regards as illegal. Palestinians hope the territories will become part of a future state.