UPDATE - Israel unveils plan for new West Bank settlement

ADDS UN CONDEMNATION

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli government late Thursday announced plans to establish a new settlement in the occupied West Bank for Jewish settlers forced to evacuate an illegal settlement outpost last month.

The decision, approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet, is the first of its kind in 20 years.

According to a statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the new settlement -- which will contain 2,000 housing units -- will be located in the Shilo Valley region near Nablus.

The statement said Netanyahu had told the Cabinet that 900 square kilometers (347 square miles) of land near Nablus had been declared state land to make way for the settlement.

The UN Secretary-General on Friday expressed "disappointment" and "alarm" at the decision.

"The Secretary-General has consistently stressed that there is no Plan B for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace and security. He condemns all unilateral actions that, like the present one, threaten peace and undermine the two-state solution," said a statement.

In December 2014, the Supreme Court ordered that the Amona outpost, which had been erected on private Palestinian land in the West Bank, be evacuated within two years.

Last month, the Amona outpost was dismantled amid clashes between Jewish settlers and police.

According to Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump accepted Netanyahu's rationale for approving a new West Bank settlement to accommodate those evicted from Amona.

- Turkey condemns

“The Israeli prime minister made a commitment to the Amona settlers prior to President Trump laying out his expectations [for an eventual peace settlement],” the newspaper quoted an unnamed US official as saying.

Netanyahu, the U.S. official noted, “has consistently indicated that he intended to move forward with this plan”.

The official added: “As we move into more detailed discussions regarding the possibilities for advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace, the Israeli government has made clear that Israel's intent is to adopt a policy regarding settlement activity that takes President Trump's concerns into consideration.”

According to official figures, Israel has approved construction of more than 6,000 settlement units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the beginning of 2017.

Roughly 612,000 Israeli settlers now live on more than 100 Jewish-only settlements built since Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967.

Turkey condemned the decision. In a statement released Friday, the Foreign Ministry described the move as “unacceptable” and said it violated Palestinians’ rights, UN Security Council resolutions and the will of the international community.

“We condemn the Israeli government’s decision to establish a new settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories,” it said.