JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities have given the go-ahead for the construction of 829 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, settlement watchdog Peace Now said yesterday.
“The construction of 829 homes has been approved by a committee of the Israeli military in charge of the West Bank,” said spokesman Lior Amihai. “This is yet another move that threatens to derail the peace process,” he said. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has warned that ongoing settlement building by Israel in the Palestinian territories threatens the future of Middle East peace talks, which are at an impasse little more than three months after they began.
A statement from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat condemned what he called “the Israeli government’s constant policy of destroying the two-state solution”.
He said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was undermining the peacemaking efforts of US Secretary of State John Kerry, revealing “that (Netanyahu’s) sole intention is to consolidate an apartheid regime rather than to achieve a just and durable peace”.
The new homes are to be built north of Jerusalem, in the settlements of Givat Zeev, Nofei Prat, Shilo, Givat Salit and Nokdim, Amihai said.
The latest move comes two weeks after Israel announced its largest plan for settler homes ever, saying some 20,000 would be built in the West Bank.AFP
