Israel on Monday advanced plans to build 800 new settler homes in Judea and Samaria, a move that could strain ties with the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced the move, saying it would include 100 homes in a settlement where an Israeli woman was killed last month in a terrorist attack.
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It was not immediately clear how soon the homes would be built, as such construction usually requires approval from several government bodies and a tendering process.
The announcement will burnish Netanyahu's right-wing credentials in a tough campaign ahead of March elections, but it could anger Biden, who is opposed to settlement expansion and has clashed with Israel over it in the past.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the move, accusing Israel of "racing against time" to build settlements before President Donald Trump leaves office on Jan, 20.
Trump's administration provided unprecedented support to Israel, including by reversing a decades-old US policy of opposing settlement construction. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last year became the first top US diplomat to visit Judea and Samaria.
Biden has pledged a more even-handed approach in which he will restore aid to the Palestinians that was cut off by Trump and work to revive peace negotiations. The two sides have not held substantive peace talks in more than a decade.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who hopes to unseat Netanyahu in March, called the announcement an "irresponsible step" that would spark a "battle" with the new US administration.
"The Biden administration has not yet taken office and the government is already leading us into an unnecessary confrontation," he tweeted. "The national interest must also be maintained during elections."
The announcement came as neighboring Egypt hosted the foreign ministers of Jordan, Germany and France to discuss ways of reviving talks aimed at a two-state solution, which is still widely seen as the only way of resolving the decades-old conflict.
Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israel's settlement plans "do not create the environment conducive to the resumption of negotiations that are the only path to a two-state solution."
In their joint statement, the ministers called for Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities, including in east Jerusalem."
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Benny Gantz has instructed the Civil Administration's Planning and Licensing Subcommittee to debate granting retroactive permits to illegal Palestinian construction projects in the West Bank.
Meir Deutsch, head of the right-wing NGO Regavim, which over the past two years has led legal battles against illegal Palestinian construction, issued a statement condemning Gantz's move, saying, "The strategic implications are clear – and potentially catastrophic. The Jewish settlement enterprise is forced into tiny boxes, while the Palestinian Authority takes control of the open spaces, and receives Israeli approval to do so."
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