Israel approves new settlement for Amona evacuees

Israeli security cabinet unanimously approved the establishment of a new settlement Thursday night to house settlers evacuated from the illegal outpost of Amona in February.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement that following the vote in the security cabinet, a telephone poll of all ministers who aren't part of that body will be conducted to give the decision final approval.

This is the first time in over 20 years that Israeli government has decided to establish a new West Bank settlement.

The decision to establish the new settlement, which will be located near the existing settlement of Shiloh, stems from a promise Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to Amona residents several months ago.

The PMO also announced the approval of some 2,000 new settlement houses.

At the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu told the ministers that final approval has also been granted to market enough land for the construction of 2,000 houses in existing settlements, according to a report from the English daily Haaretz.

He also told the ministers that some 900 dunams (about 222 acres) of territory in the West Bank would be registered as state land.

A White House official was quoted by The Times of Israel as saying that talks between Israel and the U.S. on limiting settlement construction were ongoing, but the Amona decision may have remained outside those discussions.

Trump had asked Netanyahu at a joint press conference last month to "hold back" on West Bank settlement construction. Several efforts since then to formulate a coordinated Israeli-U.S. position on settlements have not yielded an agreement. Endit