News / Palestine

Israeli regime to construct three new settlements in Negev desert

Wednesday, 08 August 2018 2:05 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 08 August 2018 2:08 PM ]

This file photo taken on January 25, 2017 shows a partial view of the Israeli settlement of Ariel near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli officials have approved plans for the construction of three new settlements in the Negev desert irrespective of the international outcry against the Tel Aviv regime’s land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in occupied Palestinian territories.

The so-called West Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee approved plans for the building of the settlements in the Negev desert on Tuesday, Palestinian’s official news agency WAFA cited a report broadcast by English-language i24NEWS television network.

The report added that the plans need the endorsement of the Board for Planning and Building Committee, before they could be submitted to the cabinet.

Around 250 settlers units are scheduled to be built in the planned Daniel settlement, while another 450 units will be built in Ir Ovot settlement.

Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem” al-Quds.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

This file photo taken on November 23, 2017 shows a view of the Jabal al-Baba Bedouin encampment, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the occupied West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem al-Quds, with the settlement appearing in the background. (Photo by AFP)

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.

Trump backtracked on Washington’s support for a “two-state solution” earlier this year, saying he would support any solution favored by both sides.

“Looking at two-state or one-state, I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the one both parties like. I can live with either one,” the US president said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on February 15.

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