If approved, it would be the biggest step forward in the illegal immigration scheme since US President Joe Biden took office.
The interior minister said Israel is preparing to build 4,000 houses for illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, a staunch supporter of the settlements, wrote in a Tweet on Friday that a planning committee will convene next week to approve 4,000 homes, calling construction in The West Coast is a “basic, imperative, and self-evident thing.”
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reports that the Civil Administration, a military body, will meet on Thursday to conduct 1,452 units, and another 2,536 will be approved by Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Israeli settlements are Jewish-only housing complexes built on Palestinian land in violate international law. From 600,000 to 750,000 VND Israeli settlers lived in at least 250 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
If passed, this would be the biggest step forward in immigration plans since US President Joe Biden took office. The White House opposes settlement growth because it further erodes the possibility of an eventual two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides was quoted by local media on Friday as saying the Biden administration has made it clear to Israel several times over the past week that it strongly opposes any expansion of the settlement.
The move comes ahead of Biden’s planned visit to Israel, scheduled for June.
Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist and founder of the NGO Youth Against Settlement, told Al Jazeera that approving 4,000 new settler homes would mean “more violence”. of Israeli settlers against West Bank Palestinians” and more “racist restrictions and policies” will be imposed on Palestinians.
“It is a sign that Israel is violating international law with impunity and without accountability, and it shows that the international community is using double standards with Israel”.
He added that the move also left Palestinians feeling “more frustrated and desperate” towards the Biden administration.
Israel approved the construction of 3,000 settler homes in October despite another US criticism. However, authorities have halted some controversial projects especially after strong objections from the United States.
Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has continued under every Israeli government since Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Middle East war.
However, construction has accelerated over the past few years under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a significant boom under Trump’s US administration, which Palestinians accuse of being biased in favor of the United States. Israel is strong.
Settlement attacks against Palestinians and their property are a regular occurrence in the West Bank, home to nearly three million Palestinians.
The Palestinian leadership wants the West Bank to be part of a future state and sees illegal settlements as a major obstacle to any potential agreement.
Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said Israel was committing racial discrimination against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has pursued a policy of establishing and maintaining “a Jewish demographic majority,” Amnesty said. Israel also exercises full control over land and resources to the benefit of Jewish Israelis, including those in illegal settlements.
Additional reporting by Farah Najjar.
