Israel evicts settlers from disputed West Bank homes

The families had moved in on Thursday after buying the homes from Palestinian families, the settlers said. About 350,000 Palestinians live in East Jerusalem and 2.7 million in West Bank.

Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are considered illegal under worldwide law and the United Nations found construction was the “root cause” of escalating violence in a report past year.

Several of the most recent incidents have involved Palestinian teenagers.

Israel recently reinstated its controversial practice of demolishing homes of Palestinian attackers in east Jerusalem, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called “one of the most efficient tools” in discouraging Palestinian attacks.

The US also opposed Israel’s decision with Deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner saying that, “we believe they’re fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution and call into question, frankly, the Israeli government’s commitment to a two-state solution”.

Israel confirmed it was planning to appropriate a large tract of fertile land in the West Bank occupied territories close to Jordan, in what could be the largest land seizure since August 2014, Reuters reported Thursday.

Jewish Home, a pro-settler party that is part of the government, accused Mr Ya’alon of “uncompromising and insensitive action to throw Jews out of their homes”, according to Haaretz.

Adi Mintz, the director-general for the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, also apologized to Kurtzer in 2004 for calling him a “yehudon”.

Israeli military chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot told a security conference on Monday that a crackdown, such as new restrictions on Palestinian workers, could push more Palestinians toward violence.

A total of 156 Palestinians and 24 Israelis have been killed in three months of attacks since October 1, according to an AFP count.

Formal annexation would continue a pattern of Israeli expansion that has been condemned by the USA and other world powers because it dampens the prospects for creation of a Palestinian state, which they view as the best hope for a lasting peace.

Israel says it has revoked the residency rights of four Palestinians said to have carried out deadly attacks against Israelis.