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Plans have reportedly moved forward for more than 2,500 houses in the Maale Adumim settlement
The Israeli government has pushed ahead with plans for more than 3,400 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank.
About 70% of the houses will be built in Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, with the rest in the nearby cities of Kedar and Efrat, south of Bethlehem.
A minister said the construction was in response to a deadly Palestinian attack near Maale Adumim two weeks ago.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the plans, which were reportedly the first to be approved since June.
Israel has built around 160 settlements for about 700,000 Jews since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land the Palestinians want as part of a future state – in the 1967 Middle East war.
The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements to be illegal under international law, although Israel denies this.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration – the body that implements the Israeli government's policies in the West Bank – submitted plans on Wednesday for the development of 3,476 settler houses – including 2,452 in Maale Adumim, 694 in Efrat and 330 in Kedar .
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician who oversees the civil administration, said after the meeting that a total of 18,515 houses had been approved in West Bank settlements last year.
“The enemies are trying to harm and weaken us, but we will continue to build and be built in this country.” he wrote on Xformerly Twitter.
However, Israeli anti-settlement organization Peace Now warned: “Instead of building a future full of hope, peace and security, the Israeli government is paving the way for our destruction.”
The projects would have a negative impact on the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it said.
The Foreign Ministry of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority condemned both the new plans and Mr. Smotrich's comments.
“The settlement is invalid and illegitimate from the start and represents an explicit call for the continuation of the spiral of violence and wars,” it said in a statement.
Mr. Smotrich presented the plans on February 22, hours after three Palestinian gunmen opened fire on cars on a road near Maale Adumim, killing one Israeli and wounding several others. He said the attack must have “a strong security response, but also a comparative response.”
“It has long been standard U.S. policy under both Republican and Democratic administrations that new settlements are counterproductive to achieving lasting peace,” he told reporters in Argentina.
“They also violate international law. Our government firmly rejects settlement expansion. And in our assessment, this only weakens Israel’s security, not strengthens it.”
A Peace Now report said in January that there had been an “unprecedented surge in settlement activity” across the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas' deadly attacks in Israel on October 7.
There was also an increase in violence in the West Bank over the same period.
According to the United Nations, at least 413 Palestinians – members of armed groups, attackers and civilians – have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, or in Israel since October.
Fifteen Israelis, including four members of the security forces, were also killed.