Israel approves 112 new settler units in West Bank


New blow to peace as Israel approves illegal settlement expansion despite Palestinian protest.


TEL AVIV - Israel has given the green light for the building of 112 new homes in an illegal Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank despite a partial moratorium on such construction, a minister said on Monday.

The expansion was revealed hours before the arrival of US Vice President Joe Biden and one day after the Palestinians agreed to indirect talks with Israel while warning that further settlement growth threatened the peace process.

Israeli Environment Minister Gilad Erdan said the project in the Beitar Illit settlement near Bethlehem was an exception to a partial halt on settlement expansion announced in November.

"At the end of last year, the government decided to freeze construction, but this decision provided for exceptions in cases of safety problems for infrastructure projects started before the freeze," he said.

"Such is the case in Beitar Illit," he told army radio.

Israel's continued expansion of illegal settlements is one of the biggest obstacles to the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, now suspended for more than a year despite months of US-led shuttle diplomacy.

The Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now slammed the new project, saying it would "widen the gap with the Palestinians and the two-state solution, which risks becoming obsolete."

The new project came to light a day after the Palestinians grudgingly agreed to four months of indirect peace negotiations with Israel but warned that the US-brokered process would collapse if it continued expanding settlements.

It also came as Biden was to make his first visit to the region since assuming office. US Middle East envoy George Mitchell is also in the region on the latest of several visits to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The Palestinians insist they will only return to direct talks if Israel agrees to a complete freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed Palestinian East Jerusalem.

The United States initially backed that demand, but has since called on both sides to immediately return to negotiations while routinely criticising Israeli settlement activity in line with longstanding policy.

Around a half million Israelis live in more than 120 illegal settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The international community considers all settlements illegal, since they are built on occupied territories.

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