Israel to expand West Bank settlements with 12,000 new homes

TEL AVIV

Israel signed an 8.5 billion-shekel ($2.3 billion) framework agreement to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the construction of 12,000 new housing units and major infrastructure projects, according to Israeli media.

Israel’s Channel 14 described the agreement as a “giant” step aimed at expanding settlements and “changing the face of the region.”

The agreement was signed at an official ceremony attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Israel Land Authority Director General Yehuda Eliyahu and Yossi

Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, which oversees numerous Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank.

The report said the agreement would “give significant momentum” to the process of expanding settlements in the region and modernizing their infrastructure.

According to the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now, around 500,000 Israeli occupiers live in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, in addition to about 250,000 living in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

The U.N. has repeatedly affirmed that Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law, warning that they undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

Palestinians insist on East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, based on international resolutions that do not recognize Israel’s 1967 occupation or its 1980 annexation of the city.

 EU: donors offering $1 bln to help Gaza

Meanwhile, The EU on July 13 said that European donors put some $1 billion on the table to help initial recovery efforts in war-torn Gaza.

EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica announced the headline figure of “almost 900 million euros or one billion dollars” at the start of a donor meeting in Brussels.

“We now need the conditions on the ground that will allow the support to reach the people in Gaza,” Suica said.

The funds, which officials said include money already pledged to help Gaza, would be used to clear debris left from Israel’s devastating military offensive and rebuild basic services such as water and sanitation