Israeli body to OK settlement homes after US condemnation

By ILAN BEN ZION
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli committee has convened to approve 2,800 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank. Such a move would raise friction with the United States and Europe, anger the Palestinians and test Israel’s fragile governing coalition. Wednesday’s meeting came a day after the Biden administration issued its strongest condemnation yet of Israeli settlement construction. The U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about Israel’s plans to advance new settlement construction. Its spokesman said more construction is “completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm and damages the prospects for a two-state solution.”