The Israeli cabinet has unanimously approved 700 units of homes for Palestinians and 6,000 for Israelis in Area C of the West Bank, an Israeli government official said on Wednesday.
Israeli approval of Palestinian homes is unusual in Area C, which includes most of Israel’s West Bank settlements and is under full Israeli control.
Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Shtayyeh, responded to the move, saying that building on land in Area C is a right for Palestinians.
He said that it should not be granted in exchange for settlements or equal treatment.
“Terms A, B and C no longer exist because Israel has violated and terminated the interim Oslo agreement.
“ We do not need permission from the occupying power to build our homes on our lands.
“This pathetic decision is aimed at deceiving the international public opinion.
“Legitimising the settlements and attempting to equate Palestinian construction on their lands with the colonial settlement construction that steals the land, the water and the air,’’ Shtayyeh said.
The Oslo peace accords, the first of which was signed in 1993, divided the West Bank into areas A, B and C.
Area A where the West Bank’s biggest cities are located is under full Palestinian control.
Most other Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank are located in Area B, which is administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA), but under Israeli security control.
Touring the Efrat settlement on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “No settlement and no settler will ever be uprooted.’’
Israeli media reported that the move was made deliberately ahead of a visit by U.S. President, Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is leading a Middle East peace initiative.
The Palestinians have rejected the U.S. peace plan, which has first focused on economic issues, as they argue that the political issues should be tackled first.
The Trump administration has upended decades of U.S. policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and cutting aid to the Palestinians.
Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza Strip, part of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem in the 1967 “six-day” War.
More than 600,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want these areas and the Gaza Strip for their own state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.
