No West Bank settlement freeze: Israeli official

JERUSALEM (AA) - An Israeli official on Tuesday said there would be no settlement-building freeze in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, local media has reported.

"There will be no freeze on building in Judea and Samaria [i.e., the West Bank]," Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan of the right-wing Jewish Home Party was quoted as saying by Israel’s Channel 7.

“Building will take place within the parameters set by the [Israeli] cabinet," he said. "This is a complete change from what happened during [U.S. President Barack] Obama's term."

Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian official in charge of settlement affairs, told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli authorities had never entirely stopped settlement construction in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

"Since the beginning of 2017, the Israeli government has issued tenders for the construction of more than 6,000 new housing units for Jewish settlers," he said.

"By taking more than 40 percent of the land in the West Bank, Israel not only destroys any ‘two-state solution’, but also keeps Palestinians isolated in cantons," he added.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building on the land to be illegal.

Nevertheless, some 620,000 Israeli settlers now live on more than 100 Jewish-only settlements built since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.

The Palestinians want the West Bank -- along with the Gaza Strip -- for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.