Israel Legalizes West Bank Settlements and 10.000 New Homes, Spokesperson for the Palestinian President: A Challenge for the US and Arabs

Construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. (Wikimedia Commons/TrickyH)

JAKARTA - Nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank were granted retrospective authorizations on Sunday, with the Israeli Government also announcing new homes to be built in the settlements.

Two pro-settlement ministers, who demonstrated a right-wing approach when they were included in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, were the first to publicize the decision.

Such settlements are considered illegal by most world powers, as they take land where Palestinians seek to establish a state.

Israel disagrees with this view, and since seizing the West Bank in a 1967 war, successive governments have established or approved 132 settlements.

In recent years, settlers have set up many outposts without government permission.

Some have been destroyed by the police, others have been retrospectively cleared. The nine approvals granted on Sunday are a first for PM Netanyahu's Administration this time.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's office also said a planning committee would convene in the coming days to approve new settlement houses.

Israel's right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said there would be 10.000 homes.

In this regard, the administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday's announcement should be "condemned and rejected".

"This is a challenge to US and Arab efforts and a provocation against the Palestinian people, and it will lead to more tension and escalation," said President Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, citing The National News, February 13.

There was no immediate comment from the US Embassy. However, Ambassador Thomas Nides had made clear last month the US Government would oppose the move.

"We want to keep the vision of a two-state solution alive," Nides said.

"He (President Netanyahu) understands that, we understand massive settlement growth will not achieve that goal (two countries)," he continued.

"We have been very clear about the idea of ​​legalizing outposts, massive expansion of settlements - that is not going to keep the vision of a two-state solution alive, in that case, we will be against it and we will be very clear about our opposition," he said January 11.