Israel accelerates settlement expansion in West Bank
Tehran (KNA) - Israel has accelerated the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank despite international condemnation.
Ma'an news agency reported the acceleration of construction work to the west, south and east of the Ahia settlement in the Palestinian village of Jalud.According to the report, 15 settlement housing units will be built in the area.
As part of the plan, new roads are constructed around Ahia and more agricultural lands are bulldozed to the east of Ahia to pave the way for the construction of yet more settlement units.
The report said the construction work advances in the absence of the media and thus away from the public eye.
Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority (PA) official in charge of monitoring Israeli settlement policy in the northern part of the West Bank, said the new settlement expansion in Ahia was accompanied by the bulldozing of lands and the construction of infrastructure in the new settlement of Amihai, which lies one kilometer to the southwest of Ahia.
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.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.Israel's continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories has been a major impediment to peace.
Israel also plans to build 300,000 housing units in the occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Source: Press TV