UN condemns Israel's West Bank settlement plans

The United Nations has condemned Israeli plans to build
 more settlements in the occupied West Bank.

A UN spokesman said "unilateral actions" were an obstacle
 to peace based on a two-state solution.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
 Israel would build 2,500 more homes in Jewish 
settlements "in response to housing needs".

It is the second such announcement by the Israeli 
authorities since US President Donald Trump took office.

Palestinian officials said the plans undermined peace
 hopes by building on land they want for a future state.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, said: "For the secretary 
general there is no Plan B for the two-states solution.

"In this respect any unilateral decision that can be an 
obstacle to the two-state goal is of grave concern for the secretary general.

"There is a need for the two parties to engage in a
 bomb fine negotiation to reach the goal of two states, 
Israel and Palestine, two states for two people."


Mr Trump has indicated that he will be more sympathetic
 to settlement construction than his predecessor, Barack Obama, and has appointed a staunch settlement supporter
 as his ambassador to Israel.

Last month, he criticised Mr Obama for declining to veto a
 UN Security Council resolution which demanded Israel immediately cease all settlement activities and warned
 they were "dangerous imperilling the viability of a two-state solution".

About 500,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built
 since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and
 East Jerusalem.

The settlements are considered illegal under international
 law, although Israel disputes this.

Most of the new homes approved on Tuesday will be built
 in existing West Bank settlement blocs, including 902 in
 Ariel and 652 in Givat Zeev.

One hundred will be constructed in Beit El, a settlement
 near Ramallah that reportedly has received funding from 
a foundation run by the family of Mr Trump's son-in-law
 and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

Following the announcement, Mr Netanyahu declared on Twitter:

"We are building - and continuing to build."

Mr Netanyahu says he still supports a two-state solution, 
but on Sunday he reportedly told ministers that he was 
lifting restrict ins on construction in the West Bank and
 East Jerusalem, as the city's municipality approved permits for 566 new homes in the settlements of Pisgat Zeev,
 Ramat Shlomo and Ramot.

The prime minister also discussed the peace process with
 the Palestinians with Mr Trump in a telephone conversation, during which he was invited to a meeting in Washington in early February.

"The president emphasised that peace between Israel and
 the Palestinians can only be negotiated directly between
 the two parties, and that the United States will work closely with Israel to make progress towards that goal," the White House said.

Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive
 committee member Hanan Ashrawi strongly denounced Tuesday's announcement.

"Once again, the Israeli government has proved that it is
 more committed to land theft and colonialism than to
 the two-State solution and the requirements for peace
 and stability," she said in a statement.

"Such a deliberate escalation of Israel's illegal settlement
enterprise constitutes a war crime and the flagrant violation
 of international law and conventions, in particular UN
 Security Council resolution 2334."

Ms Ashrawi called on the US and the rest of the international community to "undertake serious and
 concrete measures to bring about a full cessation of
 all settlement activities and to hold Israel to account for 
these disastrous plans with punitive measures and sanctions before it completes the destruction of the territorial and

demographic contiguity of the West Bank".