The Israeli occupation authorities on Wednesday approved plans for more than 1000 settlement homes in the occupied West Bank the latest in a raft of approvals since US President Donald Trump took office.
The plans for 1000 homes approved by a war ministry committee are at various stages in the process.
They include 370 housing units in the Adam settlement where three Israelis were stabbed by a anti-occupation Palestinian protester in July one fatally said Peace Now NGO which closely monitors Israeli settlement building.
Israel’s war minister Avigdor Lieberman had pledged to build 400 new homes in the settlement in response to the stabbings.
Israeli settlements are considered a violation of international law and major stumbling blocks to peace efforts as they are built on occupied Palestinian land.
There have been increasing warnings that the continuing expansion of settlements is diminishing any remaining hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump’s administration has been far less critical of settlement building than his predecessor Barack Obama.
Peace Now says West Bank settlement plans increased to 6742 units in 2017 compared with 2629 the previous year Obama’s last in office.
Plans have been advanced for 3794 units so far this year the NGO added.
