US Secretary of State criticizes Israeli actions to build more settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Antony Blinken warned that such actions would increase tensions with the Palestinians.
It should noted that on Sunday, Israel announced the legalization of 9 settlements in the occupied West Bank. And the construction of another 10,000 units.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the plans late Sunday. Saying they were in response to recent deadly Palestinian violence.
It says Israel would legalize settlement outposts that built without permission and convene a special planning committee in the coming days to approve the construction of additional settlements.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hard-line settler whose responsibilities include settlement construction authority, says about 10,000 housing units to approved. US Secretary of State criticizes Israeli actions to build more settlements in the occupied West Bank.
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Netanyahu’s new government is dominated by Israeli extremists who support settlement building and oppose Palestinian independence.
The United States opposes the construction of settlements on occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians. More than 700,000 Jewish Israelis currently live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — territories seized in the 1967 Middle East war and sought by the Palestinians for their future state.