Israel set to approve 4,000 settler models in occupied West Bank | Occupied West Bank News

If authorised, it might be the biggest development of unlawful settlement plans since US President Joe Biden took office.

Israel is ready to advance plans for the construction of 4,000 illegal settler houses within the occupied West Bank, the inside minister has said.

Interior minister Ayelet Shaked, a staunch supporter of settlements, wrote in a Tweet on Friday that a planning committee would convene next week to approve 4,000 properties, calling development in the West Bank a “basic, required and apparent thing”.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the Civil Administration, a navy body, would meet Thursday to advance 1,452 models, and that one other 2,536 items can be permitted by defence minister Benny Gantz.

Israeli settlements are fortified, Jewish-only housing complexes built on Palestinian land in violation of international law. Between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers live in a minimum of 250 illegal settlements in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

If approved, it will be the largest development of settlement plans since US President Joe Biden took office. The White House is against settlement progress because it further erodes the potential of an eventual two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian battle.

US ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides was quoted by local media on Friday as saying the Biden administration has repeatedly made it clear to Israel throughout the past week that it strongly opposes any further settlement enlargement activity.

The move comes ahead of a deliberate visit by Biden to Israel, slated for June.

Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist and founding father of the Youth In opposition to Settlements NGO, told Al Jazeera that the approval of 4,000 new settler homes would imply “extra Israeli settler violence towards Palestinians in the West Bank” and extra “restrictions and apartheid polices” to be imposed on the Palestinians.

“It's an indicator that Israel is violating international regulation with impunity and without accountability, and it exhibits that the international group is utilizing double requirements with Israel,” Amro mentioned.

He added the transfer also makes Palestinians really feel “more disappointed and hopeless” in direction of the Biden administration.

Israel accredited the construction of 3,000 settler homes in October regardless of one other US rebuke. Authorities have, however, paused some particularly controversial initiatives within the wake of strong US opposition.

Israeli settlement growth within the West Bank and East Jerusalem has continued underneath every Israeli government since Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Center East battle.

Nevertheless, construction accelerated in the last few years under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a significant boom throughout Trump’s US administration, which Palestinians accused of having a powerful pro-Israel bias.

Settler attacks towards Palestinians and their property are a regular prevalence in the West Bank, dwelling to almost three million Palestinians.

The Palestinian leadership wants the West Financial institution as part of a future state and views the unlawful settlements as a major impediment to any potential deal.

Earlier this 12 months, Amnesty Worldwide and Human Rights Watch stated Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).

Since its institution in 1948, Israel has pursued a policy of establishing and sustaining a “Jewish demographic majority”, Amnesty stated. Israel also workouts full management over land and resources to profit Jewish Israelis, including these in illegal settlements.

Further reporting by Farah Najjar.