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Israel to limit settlement construction to satisfy Trump

Xinhua, March 31, 2017 Adjust font size:

Israel will curb construction of West bank settlements, considering U.S. President Donald Trump's requests, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the security cabinet on Thursday night.

The cabinet's decision means that Israel will only permit building in the existing construction lines of the settlements or adjacent to them, and will prevent construction of any new illegal outposts, said Netanyahu.

The announcement came hours after the security cabinet decided to establish a new settlement for families evicted from Amona outpost.

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

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 any agreement. Endit