’Israel’ to Build Hundreds of West Bank Settling Units

Local Editor

The "Israeli" government seeks approval for hundreds of settler units in the northern West Bank settlements of Itamar and Bruchin.

According to the "Jerusalem Post" "Israeli" daily, the plans to build 538 new units in Itamar and legalize 137 existing units were submitted to regional planning authorities this week.

For its part, "Haaretz" daily put the numbers of units at 537 and 130 respectively.

The Post said that also submitted for review were plans for 550 new settling units in Bruchin, a former wildcat outpost authorized retroactively in April in a decision which brought a statement of "concern" from EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

The latest moves come as the United States works sought to re-launch the so-called peace talks between Tel Aviv and the Palestinians where "Israeli" settlement building is a prime sticking point.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry had been expected to visit "Israeli" and Palestinian leaders this week but the State Department said he was postponing the trip to focus on talks about Syria.

US officials insist Kerry remains fully engaged in his efforts and say he plans to reschedule his trip as soon as possible.

But the top US diplomat has warned he is not prepared to make endless futile trips, urging both "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to make the "tough decisions" needed to restart talks frozen since 2010.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team