Israel approves hundreds of settlement homes

Israeli forces destroyed the homes of two Palestinians in the West Bank.

Witnesses said Palestinian gunmen also exchanged fire with the Israeli soldiers.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman approved the new construction on Sunday night.

The decision follows calls among Israelis for a harsh response to a series of Palestinian attacks against Israelis in recent days.

Hebron Governor Kamal Humeid was pictured meeting with the family of Mohammed Nasser Tarayra, 19, after he killed Hallel Yaffa Ariel as she slept in her bed in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron.

It also reduced the monthly tax payments to the Palestinian Authority as a retaliatory measure.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, took aim at the recent settlement announcement as well as the lockdown on the Hebron region of the West Bank.

The Quartet suggest that each side must “independently demonstrate, through policies and actions, a genuine commitment to the two-state solution” and to “refrain from unilateral steps that prejudice the outcome of the final negotiations.” the United Nations said in a press release.

Amro, the activist, said the two were shot with live ammunition as they tried to prevent Israeli army jeeps from entering the village.

Over the past nine months, Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbings, shootings and attacks using cars against civilians and security forces, killing 34 Israelis and two Americans visiting Israel.

For Israel’s farthest right MPs, that’s very much the idea, with many insisting that the Palestinians must never be allowed a state, and advocating policies that will make independence impossible for them.

The spokesperson said that more than a hundred Palestinians “were rioting” in Dura when Israeli forces first responded with warning shots and riot dispersal means, including rubber-coated steel bullets.

The spokesman noted that such activities raise “legitimate questions” over Tel Aviv’s “long-term intentions” in the West Bank. The Palestinian leader now governs in the West Bank, while Hamas remains in control of Gaza.

Israel says the violence is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of incitement, and a glorification of attacks by Palestinians on social media.

They included “growing Palestinian anger, the paralysis of the peace process, the almost a half-century of occupation”, Ban said.