Israel’s defense minister said on Thursday he plans to seek approval next week for the construction of some 2,500 new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Reuters reports.
Avigdor Lieberman, writing on Twitter, said a regional planning board would be asked to designate 1,400 of the housing units for immediate construction.
“We will promote building in all of Judea and Samaria, from the north to south, in small communities and in large ones,” Lieberman said, using the Biblical names for the West Bank.
The Trump administration has been working on a new peace proposal. David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said on Israeli Channel 10 News on Wednesday that the plan has not been finalised and he believed it would be presented “within months”.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas that are also home to more than 2.6 million Palestinians.