Palestinians assail settlement growth

JERUSALEM — A settlement watchdog group said Sunday that Israel is moving ahead with new construction of hundreds of homes in a strategic east Jerusalem settlement that threatens to cut off parts of the city claimed by Palestinians from the West Bank.

The group, Peace Now, said the Israel Land Authority announced on its website Sunday that it had opened up bidding for construction of more than 1,200 new homes in the key settlement of Givat Hamatos in east Jerusalem.

The move may test ties with the incoming administration of Presidentelect Joe Biden, who is expected to take a firmer tack against Israeli settlement expansion after four years of a more lenient policy under President Trump, who has largely turned a blind eye to settlement construction.

The approval of the 1,200 homes is a further setback to dwindling hopes of an internationally backed partition deal that would enable the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The Palestinians along with critics of Israel’s settlement policy say construction in the Givat Hamatos settlement would seal off the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and the southern West Bank from east Jerusalem.

“This is a continuation of the current Israeli government policy in destroying the twostate solution,“said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Sunday’s development comes as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to travel to the region this week, where he is expected to visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank— a stop previous U. S. secretaries of state have avoided. Palestinian officials have denounced Pompeo’s planned visit.