Israel okays 7,000 illegal homes, accused of 'spitting on the face of US'

Israel's far-right government has granted approval for over 7,000 new homes in illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, settlement backers and opponents said. 

Thursday's move defies growing international opposition to construction in the occupied territory of Palestine.

The announcement came just days after the UN Security Council passed a statement strongly criticising Israeli illegal settlement construction on occupied Palestinian lands. 

The United States, Israel's closest ally, blocked what would have been an even tougher legally binding resolution, with diplomats saying they had received Israeli assurances of refraining from unilateral acts for six months.

The new approvals took place during a two-day meeting that ended on Thursday and appeared to contradict those claims. 

The US has repeatedly criticised Israeli settlement construction, saying it undermines hopes for a two-state solution with the Palestinians, but taken no action to stop it.

Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group that attended the meeting, said a planning committee granted approvals for some 7,100 new housing units across the occupied West Bank.

The group said the committee scheduled a meeting next month to discuss plans to develop a strategic area east of occupied Jerusalem known as E1. 

The US in the past has blocked the project, which would largely bisect the occupied West Bank and which critics say would make it impossible to end Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands. 

Lior Amihai, the group's incoming director, said some 5,200 housing units were in the early stages of planning, while the remainder were approved for near-term construction. He also said construction was approved in four unauthorised outposts.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had pledged not to legalise any more wildcat outposts. He made the promise after retroactively legalising 10 existing outposts earlier this month.

The Israeli government is "spitting on the face of the US, only a few days after announcing that they committed to them that there would be no advancement of settlements in the near future," said Peace Now.

Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian official, appealed to the United States to intervene. "The American side is required to stop this violation, which will not lead to any peace or stability in the region," he said.

There was no immediate US reaction.

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One of largest approvals of illegal settlements

The planned construction is likely to add to the already heightened tensions following Israeli military's killing of at least 11 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday.

The international community, along with Palestine, considers settlement construction illegal or illegitimate and an obstacle to peace. 

Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem — territories captured by Israel in 1967. 

Netanyahu's new coalition, which took office in late December, is dominated by hardline and ultranationalist politicians with close ties to the illegal settlement movement. 

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a firebrand settler leader, on Thursday was officially granted Cabinet-level authority over illegal settlement policies.

Smotrich had promised earlier this month a major illegal settlement push. His office declined to comment on Thursday, but illegal settler representatives, who also attended the planning meeting, celebrated what they said were new approvals.

Yossi Dagan, an illegal settler leader in the northern West Bank, welcomed the retroactive approval of 118 homes in "Nofei Nehemia," an outpost in the northern West Bank.

Shlomo Neeman, chairman of the Yesha settler's council, declared the approvals "a tremendous boost." Neeman is also mayor of the "Gush Etzion" settlement bloc near occupied Jerusalem, where illegal settlers said hundreds of new homes were approved.

The decision marks one of the largest approvals of illegal settlement construction in years. In comparison, some 8,000 units were approved in the previous two years, according to Peace Now.

"It's very big," said Amihai.

READ MORE: 'They shot to kill': Israeli troops kill 11 Palestinians in Nablus raid