The Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now warned over the weekend that the building plan could eventually include 300 units. The ministry said the new housing would provide a “solution” to facilitate the relocation of residents of Amona, a hilltop outpost elsewhere in the West Bank that Israel’s Supreme Court has said must be demolished. Israel has considered a bill to retroactively legalize Amona and relocate the outpost to plots of land owned by Palestinian who do not live in the West Bank. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement Tuesday that the decision was the latest evidence of “Israel’s resolve to destroy the two-state solution…. Day by day the right-wing extremist Israeli government’s real intentions are unraveled by Israel’s lack of respect for international law.”Mitnick is a special correspondent.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 05, 2016 23:15 UTC