Netanyahu: New Settlements Just a «Taste» of Things to Come

Local Editor

«Israeli» Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the latest illegal settlement approval is just a "taste" of new measures which will be taken now that Barack Obama is no longer the US president.

"We are leaving the period. This building [approval] was a taste. We are going to be doing many things differently from now on," said Netanyahu while addressing the Israeli parliament on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, in an announcement that sparked widespread condemnation, the "Israeli" ministry of military affairs announced that regime officials had approved the construction plans of 2,500 new settler units, with most of the structures expected to be built inside the existing settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu added that the approval came after eight years during which Israel had "suffered" from Obama's "not-one-brick policy," referring to claims the Israeli prime minister has made in the past that the US told him that it would oppose any new settlement construction beyond the Green Line, the 1948 occupied territories.

"We are not talking about outposts or even settlement blocs," he added, noting that some of the measures will be carried out in East al-Quds [Jerusalem] itself.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the US neither approved nor condemned the Tel Aviv regime's fresh settlement measures, adding that US President Donald Trump would discuss the matter during an upcoming meeting with Netanyahu in Washington.

"We're going to have a meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and we'll continue to discuss that," he said. "‘Israel' continues to be a huge ally of the United States, he wants to grow closer with Israel, to make sure that it gets the full respect that it deserves in the Middle East," he added.

The "Israeli" approval came two days after a phone conversation between Trump and Netanyahu in which regional issues were discussed and the "Israeli" prime minister was invited to Washington in February.

Over 230 illegal settlements had been constructed since the 1967 "Israeli" occupation of the Palestinian territories. The illegal structures had hampered attempts to establish peace in the Middle East.

In December 2016, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334 that denounced the Israeli settlements as a "flagrant violation of international law."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team