Israeli cabinet approves new settlement, first in 2 decades

Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi condemned the new settlement approval and called for global intervention.

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi immediately blasted the announcements.

“With these actions Israel has shown that it aims to reinforce the odious Israeli occupation”, Palestinian Authority government spokesman Yousif Mahmoud told Wafa, the official Palestinian Authority news agency.

The Israeli ministers also approved the construction of 2,000 settler homes out of the 5,700 units announced two months ago, and endorsed the expropriation of 90 hectares (222 acres) of Palestinian land near the Israeli settlement of Eli north of Ramallah. Then President-elect Donald Trump and Israel had urged Washington to wield its veto.

The negotiations between Palestine and Israel have been deadlocked for years due to the growth of settlements; Abbas said that he is not willing to proceed with negotiations as long as Israel expands its settlements in Palestinian territories.

It comes after Netanyahu announced the creation of Israel’s first new settlement for two decades Thursday. This will be done in an effort to limit the “footprint” of the settlements.

The new settlement’s location was “strategic for the fragmentation of the West Bank”, the group said.

Despite these setbacks, Reuters quoted Netanyahu as saying that “Israel is committed to working with President Trump to advance peace with the Palestinians and with all our neighbors”.

In recent weeks, The White House has indicated its interest in restarting the stalled peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.

In addition, Israel recently passed contentious legislation paving the way for the retroactive legalization of settlement outposts that were built without government authorization on private Palestinian land.

Netanyahu told ministers to take Trump’s position “into consideration” and that construction will be limited to within settlement boundaries and no new outposts will be allowed. But Israel has not built a full-fledged new settlement since the 1990s.

The Palestinians reacted angrily as what is widely seen as the most right-wing government in Israeli history presses ahead with settlement expansion in defiance of worldwide concern.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, speaking in Washington at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference earlier this week, said the United States would never allow “Israel-bashing” at the world body.

The Israeli security cabinet Thursday night assigned a new ocation near Shilo in Samaria for the re-housing of the 40 families forcibly evacuated from their homes and farms in Amona earlier this month.

A spokesman for United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, expressed “disappointment and alarm” at the announcement. The eviction came after Israel’s Supreme Court said the houses were built illegally on privately owned Palestinian land.

Thursday’s settlement announcement was also made on Land Day, a day on which Palestinians commemorate the 1976 deaths of six peaceful Palestinian protesters killed by Israeli security forces.