Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin, has described as an “honour” the construction of the new West Bank settlement which began on Tuesday for the first time in 25 years.
The West Bank has been a major point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At least 600,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank (a territory which Israel occupied during a conflict in 1967) and in East Jerusalem.
According to Peace Now, an Israeli rights group, the new settlement will be the first official one since 1991.
Netanyahu who called the West Bank by its biblical name said, “After decades, I have the honour to be the first prime minister to build a settlement in Judea and Samaria,”
The prime minister added that there was not, and there would never be, as good a government for the settlements as theirs.
The new settlement is intended to house residents of the West Bank outpost of Amona after it was demolished in February.
The plan was condemned in March, both at home and abroad, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressing “disappointment and alarm.”
