Wednesday, July 31, 2019
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli Cabinet unanimously approved a proposal to build more than 700 housing units for Palestinians in addition to 6,000 Israeli settlement housing units in the West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government advanced the proposal late on Tuesday, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded to the development by saying the Palestinians don't need Israeli permits to build on land that Israel occupied.
The approval appeared timed to coincide with a visit by President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is also the White House's chief Mideast envoy.
Kushner kicked off a new regional tour in Jordan on Wednesday to promote the Trump administration's call for a $50 billion economic support plan for the Palestinians. The funds would accompany a Mideast peace proposal, which the administration has yet to release. He then flew to Israel and met with Netanyahu later in the evening.
The Israeli permits are for construction in what is known as Area C – the roughly 60 percent of the West Bank where Israel exercises full control and where most Jewish settlements are located. Netanyahu's government has approved the construction of tens of thousands of settler homes there, but permits for Palestinian construction are extremely rare.
Israeli officials declined to provide specifics to The Associated Press about what exactly the 700 approved Palestinian units entailed.