Israel today approved construction of 878 housing units in Jewish settlements in occupied West Bank, just days after the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians in which settlements are a major hurdle.
Discussions on the plans was postponed following US Secretary of State John Kerry's announcement last month that diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinians would resume, but was brought back to the table in recent days, Ha'aretz reported.
The move, approved by the highest civilian authority in the West Bank, could complicate US-sponsored peace talks, which resumed last month, after a three year deadlock.
Palestinians had demanded total freeze of all building activities in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as a pre-condition for renewing peace talks.
Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, put the number of new homes discussed by the Civil Administration yesterday at 1,096 located in 11 isolated settlements, some deep within the occupied territory.
Most of the world powers regard all the Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal and Palestinians say the enclaves could deny them a viable and contiguous state.
However, Israel believes that it will keep most of the major West Bank settlement blocks under its control in any peace deal that could be accompanied by largescale land swap.
There was no immediate response from the Palestinian Authority (PA) on the new settlement initiative.
Some 500,000 Israeli settlers live in West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured during the 'Six-Day War' in 1967.
