Israel set to approve thousands of building permits in West Bank

Israel’s nationalist-religious government on Sunday tabled plans to approve thousands of building permits in the occupied West Bank, despite U.S. pressure to halt settlement expansion that Washington sees as an obstacle to peace with Palestinians.
The plans for approval of 4,560 housing units in various areas of the West Bank were included on the agenda of Israel’s Supreme Planning Council that meets next week, although only 1,332 are up for final approval, with the remainder still going through the preliminary clearance process.
“We will continue to develop the settlement of and strengthen the Israeli hold on the territory,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a defence portfolio that gives him a leading role in West Bank administration.
Most countries deem the settlements, built on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as illegal. Their presence is one of the fundamental issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as their capital. Peace talks that had been brokered by the United States have been frozen since 2014.