«Israeli» Settlement Construction in West Bank Soars

Local Editor

Data released by the "Israeli" entity's so-called Central Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday that the construction on settler units in the occupied West Bank soared by 70 percent between April 2016 and March 2017.

Since April 2016, work began on 2,758 dwellings, compared to 1,619 during the previous 12 months.

The figures do not include "Israeli"-annexed East al-Quds [Jerusalem] which the entity considers an integral part of its "indivisible capital".

Settlement watchdog "Peace Now" said the settlement boom coincided with a 2.5-percent drop in construction starts inside the "Israeli" entity.

The group urged the "Israeli" regime to solve the settlement crisis instead of "prioritizing a radical minority living beyond the boundaries of the state".

"Such construction continues to distance us from the only way to end the ‘Israeli'-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution," it added.

More than 600,000 "Israelis" live in settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds, which is seen as a major obstacle to peace between the entity and the Palestinians. They live alongside some three million Palestinians.

Earlier this month, "Israel" green-lighted plans for more than 3,000 settler units.

The projects are at various stages in the planning process, and the units are located in a number of settlements across the occupied West Bank.

US President Donald Trump is seeking to restart peace negotiations between the "Israelis" and the Palestinians, stalled since talks collapsed in 2014.

Trump called on "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold back on settlement building as he seeks to build momentum.

Netanyahu, however, faces political pressure from the settler movement, which wields heavy influence in his right-wing governing coalition.

"There was not and will not be a better government for settlement than our government," he told senior members of his Likud party on Monday.

"We build in all parts of the country, we do it with determination, methodically and wisely," he said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team