Israel set to approve 4,000 settler units in occupied West Financial institution | Occupied West Bank Information

If permitted, it would be the biggest development of unlawful settlement plans since US President Joe Biden took office.

Israel is ready to advance plans for the construction of 4,000 illegal settler properties within the occupied West Financial institution, the interior minister has stated.

Interior minister Ayelet Shaked, a staunch supporter of settlements, wrote in a Tweet on Friday that a planning committee would convene next week to approve 4,000 properties, calling construction in the West Financial institution a “basic, required and obvious factor”.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the Civil Administration, a navy physique, would meet Thursday to advance 1,452 units, and that another 2,536 units would be approved by defence minister Benny Gantz.

Israeli settlements are fortified, Jewish-only housing complexes constructed on Palestinian land in violation of international legislation. Between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers live in at the least 250 unlawful settlements in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

If approved, it could be the biggest advancement of settlement plans since US President Joe Biden took workplace. The White House is opposed to settlement progress because it further erodes the potential of an eventual two-state answer to the Israeli-Palestinian battle.

US ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides was quoted by local media on Friday as saying the Biden administration has repeatedly made it clear to Israel during the previous week that it strongly opposes any additional settlement growth exercise.

The transfer comes forward of a planned visit by Biden to Israel, slated for June.

Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist and founding father of the Youth Against Settlements NGO, told Al Jazeera that the approval of 4,000 new settler properties would mean “extra Israeli settler violence in direction of Palestinians in the West Bank” and more “restrictions and apartheid polices” to be imposed on the Palestinians.

“It is an indicator that Israel is violating international legislation with impunity and without accountability, and it shows that the worldwide neighborhood is utilizing double standards with Israel,” Amro stated.

He added the move also makes Palestinians feel “more disappointed and hopeless” in the direction of the Biden administration.

Israel approved the construction of 3,000 settler houses in October regardless of one other US rebuke. Authorities have, nonetheless, paused some especially controversial projects within the wake of robust US opposition.

Israeli settlement enlargement within the West Financial institution and East Jerusalem has continued below every Israeli government since Israel captured the territories within the 1967 Center East struggle.

However, building accelerated in the last few years under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with a significant increase during Trump’s US administration, which Palestinians accused of getting a robust pro-Israel bias.

Settler assaults towards Palestinians and their property are a regular prevalence within the West Financial institution, home to nearly three million Palestinians.

The Palestinian leadership wants the West Financial institution as part of a future state and views the illegal settlements as a serious impediment to any potential deal.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch mentioned Israel is committing the crime of apartheid in opposition to Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has pursued a policy of building and maintaining a “Jewish demographic majority”, Amnesty said. Israel additionally workout routines full management over land and sources to benefit Jewish Israelis, including those in illegal settlements.

Additional reporting by Farah Najjar.