TEL AVIV, March 13, 2011 (WAFA) - In response to the Itamar attack, the Israeli ministerial committee on settlement affairs approved the construction of 500 settlement units in the West Bank.
The committee, which included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, said this decision comes in response to the stabbing attack on a family of five in the settlement of Itamar, south east of Nablus.
The construction will expand the existing settlements of Gush Etzion, Ma'ale Adumim, Ariel and Kiryat Sefer. An Israeli official said this is a strategic decision, one that will ensure Israel maintains control over these settlements in any future agreement with Palestinians.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, Palestinian presidential spokesman, told Wafa this move is 'wrong and unacceptable and will ruin everything and create large problems.'
The Fogel family of Jewish settlers was killed Friday night by a yet unknown party in the West Bank settlement of Itamar.
M.N./F.J.
