An Israeli watchdog group said Tuesday that the government approved nearly 2,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank settlements a day before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Authorities made a major last-minute push this week to advance settlement construction in the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state, in the twilight hours of the Trump administration.
The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now said the majority of the new government tenders — published on Tuesday, President Donald Trump's last full day in office — are deep inside the West Bank. Earlier this week, the Israeli government advanced plans for nearly 800 homes in West Bank settlements.
The move has been condemned by the UN, UK and EU, all saying that the plans are detrimental to further advancements in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and are in violation of international law.
Israel accelerated settlement construction under Trump, whose administration did not criticize settlement announcements and in 2018 said it did not consider settlements illegal under international law.
3 View gallery
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the area where a new neighborhood is to be built in the East Jerusalem settlement of Har Homa
(Photo: AP)
According to Peace Now, Israel approved or advanced construction of over 12,000 settlement homes in 2020, the highest number in a single year since it started recording in 2012.
Biden is expected to reverse course and adopt the traditional American stance of opposing settlement constructions, setting the stage for tension with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
3 View gallery
Palestinian demonstrators stand in front of the settlement of Kfar Qaddum during a protest in the West Bank
(Photo: Reuters)
"Our out-of-touch government leadership continues to press on with its mad scramble to promote as much settlement activity as possible until the last minutes before the change of the administration in Washington," said Peace Now.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Six-Day War. In the decades since, it has built dozens of settlements in the West Bank that most countries consider illegal under international law. The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank as part of a future independent state. They say Israel's growing settler population, approaching some 500,000 people, is an impediment to peace.