Israeli panel discusses plans for settlement expansion

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM (AA) - An Israeli committee in charge of settlement building in the West Bank is set to discuss plans for settlement expansion in the occupied territory.

The panel will consider advancing plans for building 2,500 new homes in several settlements in the territory, according to anti-settlement monitor Peace Now.

On Tuesday, the High Planning Committee of the Civil Administration advanced plans for the first new settlement since 1993, to accommodate settlers evicted earlier this year from Amona, a settler outpost deemed illegal by Israel's courts.

The committee has also been discussing 20 units in the Beit El settlement, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, which Peace Now claimed is linked to the new U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

There are around 400,000 Israelis living in the occupied West Bank in settlements which Israel has continued to expand despite being considered illegal under international law.

Tuesday marked 50 years of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, after it took control of the West Bank from Jordan during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.