New York - The United Nations has condemned Israeli plans to build more settlements in the occupied West Bank. A UN spokesman said "unilateral actions" were an obstacle to peace based on a two-state solution. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would build 2,500 more homes in Jewish settlements "in response to housing needs". It is the second such announcement by the Israeli authorities since US President Donald Trump took office. Palestinian officials said the plans undermined peace hopes by building on land they want for a future state. Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, said: "For the secretary general there is no Plan B for the two-states solution. "In this respect any unilateral decision that can be an obstacle to the two-state goal is of grave concern for the secretary general. "There is a need for the two parties to engage in a bona fide negotiation to reach the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, two states for two people." Mr Trump has indicated that he will be more sympathetic to settlement construction than his predecessor, Barack Obama, and has appointed a staunch settlement supporter as his ambassador to Israel. Last month, he criticised Mr Obama for declining to veto a UN Security Council resolution which demanded Israel immediately cease all settlement activities and warned they were "dangerously imperilling the viability of a two-state solution". About 500,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. Most of the new homes approved on Tuesday will be built in existing West Bank settlement blocs, including 902 in Ariel and 652 in Givat Zeev. One hundred will be constructed in Beit El, a settlement near Ramallah that reportedly has received funding from a foundation run by the family of Mr Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.(FA)
