Israel announces new West Bank roads
THE ISRAELI government will build two new roads to settlements in the West Bank on land which is to be appropriated from local Palestinian residents.
The two new roads, each about six kilometres long, will connect the main Route 60 to the settlements of Yitzhar and Havat Gilad in the northern West Bank, and Karmei Tzur and Kiryat Arba, south of Jerusalem. The route will bypass Palestinian villages and sites where Israeli vehicles were attacked in the past.
It is unclear whether the new projects are an indication of a wider change in Israeli policy in the West Bank. Ahead of last month’s election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to consider annexing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, mentioning the town of Maaleh Adumim to the east of Jerusalem as one possible example.
But in coalition talks with Union of Right-Wing Parties, which brought up the issue, Mr Netanyahu is reported to have said that his government will wait first for the Trump administration to present its much-awaited peace plan before taking any major steps.