Israel on Monday unveiled plans to build 800 new settlers’ homes in the West Bank, a move that could tighten the incoming administration of President Joe Biden.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the move, saying it would include 100 homes in a settlement where an Israeli woman was killed last month in an alleged attack by Palestinian invader.
Palestinian demonstrators stand in front of a Jewish settlement during a protest, in Kafr Qaddum on the West Bank
(Photo: Reuters)
The news fires Netanyahu’s right-wing credentials in a tough campaign ahead of the March elections, but it could anger Biden, who opposes settlement expansion and has opposed Israel over on it in the past.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, areas that Palestinians want for the future of the state. Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in cities scattered across the West Bank. Palestinians see settlements as a violation of international law and an obstacle to peace, a situation with widespread international support.
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry criticized the latest news, accusing Israel of “racing against time” to build settlements before President Donald Trump leaves office.
Biden, Netanyahu and Trump
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky, AP, MCT)
The Trump administration provided unprecedented support for Israel, including by abandoning a decade-old U.S. policy of opposing settlements. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last year became the first major U.S. diplomatic representative to visit a West Bank settlement.
Biden has pledged a fairer approach in which he will back support Palestinians cut off by Trump and work to revive peace talks. Both sides have not held substantive peace talks in more than a decade.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who hopes to dismantle Netanyahu in March, called the settlement a “reckless move” that would provoke a “battle” with the new U.S. administration.
“The Biden administration has not yet taken office and the government is already leading us into unnecessary conflict,” he tweeted. “The national interest must be maintained in elections.”
West Bank settlements
(Photo: Reuetrs)
The greatest threat to Netanyahu in the forthcoming vote comes from the right side, where Gideon Saar, a friendly and strong supporter of settlements, has broken away and vowed to end on his long rule. Censuses show Likud Netanyahu won the majority of votes but falls short of a majority coalition in Knesset, or Israel’s 120-seat parliament.
The news said that 100 homes would be built in Tel Manashe, a West Bank settlement where Esther Horgan, a six-year-old mother, was killed last month while on the move in a nearby forest. Israel says it has arrested a Palestinian suspect in the attack.
It was not immediately clear how quickly the homes would be built, as such construction usually requires the approval of several government agencies and a tender process.