Arab News

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry on Tuesday “strongly condemned” Israel’s decision to establish 800 settlement units in the West Bank, Saudi Press Agency reported.

“The Ministry renewed its categorical rejection of this move as a new violation of decisions of international legitimacy, a threat to peace and undermines the efforts for a two-state solution,” the statement added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered construction plans advanced on Monday for some 800 Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank, anchoring the projects in the final days of the pro-settlement Trump administration.

Palestinians condemned such construction as illegal and most countries view Israeli settlements as violating international law.

An announcement by Netanyahu’s office said the homes would be built in the settlements of Beit El and Givat Zeev, north of Jerusalem, and in Tal Menashe, Rehelim, Shavei Shomron, Barkan and Karnei Shomron in the northern West Bank. It gave no starting date for construction.

Palestinians seek to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, all land captured by Israel in a 1967 war.

(With Reuters)