In a decision that threatened to exacerbate already fragile relations with the United States, Israel’s far-right cabinet on Monday approved plans to construct thousands of additional houses in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The choice disregarded mounting American criticism of Israel’s settlement practices.
During a period of escalating violence in the occupied territories, it also increased tensions with the Palestinians.
According to many Israeli media agencies, the Defense Ministry planning committee that regulates settlement development approved the construction of more than 5,000 additional settlement dwellings.
The planning for the units is at various stages, and it was unclear when building would start.
The ministry did not respond right away.
The Palestinians and the international community both view the establishment of settlements as unlawful and as barriers to peace.
In the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Israel conquered in 1967 and to which the Palestinians aspired for a future state, more than 700,000 Israelis currently reside.
Wassel Abu Yousef, a representative of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, claimed that the Netanyahu administration was advancing in its open campaign of aggression against the Palestinian people.
“We affirm that all settler colonialism in all of the occupied Palestinian territories is illegitimate and illegal.”
The majority of the Israeli cabinet, which was installed in late December, is made up of religious and ultranationalist figures with links to the settlement movement.
Bezalel Smotrich, the fiery finance minister, has been given Cabinet-level control over settlement policy.
The Biden Administration has been vocal in criticizing Israel’s settlement policy more frequently.
In a speech to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to the settlements as “an obstacle to the horizon of hope we seek.”
The United States hasn’t done anything to retaliate against Israel, despite the criticism.
The White House has not yet sent an invitation to Netanyahu for a visit, as is traditional after Israeli elections, as a statement of its disapproval. Additionally, the United States said last week that it would not send money to Israeli universities for scientific and technological research initiatives in the West Bank.
The choice reinstated a long-standing principle that the pro-settlement Trump administration had scrapped.
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