Israel OKs some 3,000 new settler homes, despite U.S. rebuke

By ILAN BEN ZION and LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has approved about 3,000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank. Wednesday’s decision came a day after the United States issued its strongest condemnation yet of such construction. It was the biggest announcement of settlement plans during the Biden administration. The decision marked the latest boost for Israel’s half-century-old settlement enterprise on occupied lands the Palestinians seek for a state. Successive Israeli governments have expanded settlements. This has made an internationally backed two-state solution, with a state of Palestine arising alongside Israel, increasingly impossible.