Israel Approves Settlement Expansion

Israel’s government on Tuesday approved the construction of 2,500 new settlement homes in the West Bank, the largest ever project to be given the green light. “We are building and we will continue building,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. Critics of the settlements say their construction undermines the peace process and the quest for a two-state solution. Last month, the U.S. abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote on the matter, allowing the body to condemn Israel for its settlement activity. Netanyahu is said to feel emboldened by the fact that Donald Trump is now the American president, rather than Barack Obama, with whom he had a rocky relationship.