Israel to approve hundreds of new settler homes in West Bank: defense minister

JERUSALEM, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Israel is expected to approve on Wednesday hundreds of new housing units for settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement on Tuesday.

Lieberman said he will seek on Wednesday for the approval of Civil Administration's High Planning Committee, the official body that regulates the construction of the settlements.

Lieberman said he would ask the committee to approve the immediate start of construction of some 1,285 housing units. Permits for additional 2,500 housing units, which are in different phases of planning, would be brought for discussion too.

Lieberman, a far-right member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, said the construction of some of the houses would begin in 2018. "We will approve big neighborhoods in Ariel, Emanuel, and other places," he said.

In October, the planning committee issued building permits for about 3,292 housing units for settlers.

The Israeli government vowed to bolster the expansion of the settlements following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who shows a less critical approach on the issue than his predecessors.

The settlements are one of the most contested issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The international community considers them to be a breach of international law since they are built on occupied Palestinian lands.

Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war and has occupied it ever since, despite repeated international criticism. Enditem