Israel’s Security Cabinet yesterday approved a new plan to build 6,000 housing units in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank

The decision comes a day after the country’s Security Cabinet issued permits for 715 Palestinian housing units in “Area C” of the occupied West Bank, which is under Israel’s military and administrative control.

Israeli media sources said that the decision came a few days before US presidential adviser Jared Kushner tours the Middle East, when he is expected to come to Israel for talks.

In response to Israel’s approval of the construction of Palestinian homes, the Palestinian Authority said there is no need for Palestinians to obtain permission from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to build homes in “Area C” of the occupied Palestinian territories.

In its statement the PA’s Foreign Ministry said that Netanyahu’s policies prove that he deals with the occupied Palestinian Area C as a “strategic reserve” for Jewish settlements and “is turning the fragmented settlements to one contiguous geographical settlement block.”

Last week Israel razed 100 Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem in what rights groups said was the “worst case of ethnic cleansing since 1967”.

 

Source: Middle East Monitor