Xinhua News Agency, Jerusalem, February 25th (Reporter Shanghao Chen Wenxian) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced on the 25th that Israel will build 3,500 new homes in the Ma'aldumin Jewish settlements on the West Bank.
Netanyahu made this statement when attending a public event in Jerusalem that day. According to him, the 3,500 homes would "connect Jerusalem to Maal-Adumin Jewish settlements."
Ma'al-Adumin is one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank. If the expansion plan is implemented, the settlement will be "geographically connected" with Jerusalem, and the West Bank will be "cut" into north and south parts.
Netanyahu proposed a plan to expand the settlement of the Ma'al-Adumin Jewish settlement in 2012, but the plan was shelved due to condemnation by the international community.
Israel will hold parliamentary elections on March 2. Israeli public opinion believes that Netanyahu announced the expansion plan of the Ma'al-Adumin Jewish settlement at this time in order to win the support of strong domestic forces, especially Jewish settlers in the West Bank, before the parliamentary elections.
The issue of Jewish settlements is one of the main obstacles to Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the third Middle East war in 1967, and has since started building Jewish settlements in these areas. Pakistan insists that it refuses to resume peace talks unless Israel completely stops building Jewish settlements.