Jerusalem, October 05: A Peace Now report said on Monday that some 800 new housing units are being built in illegal Jewish settlements across the occupied West Bank, despite US calls for Israel to freeze all settlement construction.
The Israeli settlement watchdog said that work got underway over the past three months in 34 settlements for the construction of the units.
In addition, some 55 buildings are in the process of being completed and foundations are being laid for an additional 50, the report said.
According to a Peace Now report, the new projects are not among some 2,400 houses already in different stages of construction that Israel aims to complete despite agreeing to a temporary halt in settlement construction.
“The settlers are working fast to produce as many construction starts as possible so that these new housing units will be counted as existing settlements and not included in any future agreed upon freeze,” it said.
Washington has been pressing hard for Israel to halt all construction work on occupied Palestinian land ahead of the resumption of Middle East peace talks. Israel has so far balked at the demand.
All Jewish settlements are illegal under international law because they are built on Arab land (mainly Palestinian), illegally occupied by Israel.
Around illegal 200,000 Jewish settlers are estimated to have moved into the dozen or so Israeli settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem.
There are about 300,000 more illegal Jewish settlers currently living in settlements the Palestinian West Bank.
The settlers adhere to radical ideologies and are extremely violent to almost-defenceless Palestinians living under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.
—Agencies