Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced approval for the building of 2,500 colonialist units in the West Bank, next week, and another 1,400 to follow.
The planning procedures will be distributed in more than 30 illegal colonies throughout the West Bank, as follows: Ariel (400), Ma’ale Adumim (460), Kiryat Arba (15), Avnei Hefetz (130), Talmon (180), Kfar Etzion (160) and Halamish/Neve Tzuf (60).
“We will promote building in all of Judea and Samaria, from the north to south, in small communities and in large ones,” Lieberman wrote on Twitter.
Israel settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank hinders a peace process, as the Palestinians want the West Bank to be part of their future state.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, areas that are also home to more than 2.6 million Palestinians.
In related news, Al Ray additionally reports that 76 members of the US House of Representatives signed a letter, addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding to stop the policy of destroying Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank with the aim of expanding settlements.
