Israel’s decision to build three thousand more homes in the occupied West Bank in Gaza has sparked tension in Palestine and made furious many international leaders.
Palestinians have condemned Israel’s approval of about 3,000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.
An Israeli defence official said a planning forum of Israel’s liaison office with the Palestinians gave preliminary approval for plans to build 1,344 housing units and its final go-ahead for projects to construct 1,800 homes.
The Israeli NGO Peace Now also confirmed the approvals. The approvals come in defiance of the strongest criticism by US President Joe Biden’s administration to date of such projects.
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas called on the international community to take a “decisive stance” on the Israeli decision.
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Nablus, said: “While the number of units approved in Wednesday’s meeting might not be as large as during the era of US President Donald Trump, for Palestinians one settlement unit is one unit too much.”
The decision marked the latest boost for Israel’s 50-year-old settlement enterprise on occupied lands the Palestinians seek for a state.
Settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are regarded as illegal under international law and by much of the international community, but successive Israeli governments have expanded them, making an internationally-backed two-state solution – a state of Palestine alongside Israel – increasingly impossible.
Hazem Qassem, a spokesperson for Hamas, the group that runs the besieged Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera the “approval affirms the expansionist behaviour of settlements which is inherent in all Zionist governments”.
“We call on the Palestinian Authority and all international parties to take action and stop Israeli occupation from the illegal settlement expansion in our lands.
Israel-US friction
Abbas said the decision amounted to a “message of disdain for the efforts of the US administration”.
The Trump administration had tolerated settlement growth and abandoned the decades-long US position that the settlements were illegitimate.
Israel embarked on an aggressive settlement spree during the Trump years, advancing plans for more than 12,000 settler homes in 2020 alone, according to Peace Now, the highest number since it started collecting data in 2012.
