The Israeli government yesterday approved the establishment of the first new West Bank settlement in 25 years, despite international opposition.
The security cabinet voted unanimously in favour of the construction north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said earlier he would keep a promise to build new homes for Israeli settlers evicted from the West Bank outpost of Amona, which had been built on privately owned Palestinian land. The outpost, 20km north of Jerusalem, was demolished in February after a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said the new settlement to accommodate about 40 families evicted from Amona would be built near the existing settlement of Shilo, which is near the Amona site. It also said the government had approved tenders to build 2000 new apartments from previously approved settlement projects.
Read the full article in The Australian (DPA, AP)
[Note the glaring typo in the title]