Israel on Monday advanced plans to build slightly over 1,300 homes for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, days after giving the green light to build settlement units in the area.
The Civil Administration’s high planning committee gave final approval to 170 homes and initial endorsement for another 1,133 residences for Palestinians, a spokesman for the military body that oversees civilian matters in the occupied Palestinian territories told AFP.
The units approved were scattered throughout a large swathe of the West Bank known as Area C, which constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank that is under full Israeli control.
On Wednesday, the same committee gave final approval to 1,800 Jewish settler homes, and initial endorsement for another 1,344, after the United States said it “strongly” opposed such new construction in the West Bank.
More than 600,000 Jews live in 145 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.
Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
