The board of directors of the Jewish National Fund, Keren Kayemeth, initially approved - Sunday - a draft resolution that would allow it to work on expanding Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The decision, when passed, enables the fund to purchase land, annex it to existing settlements and expand it.
The fund's board of directors will meet - at a time not yet decided - to determine the legal texts, in preparation for submitting the final text to the board for final approval.
And it was reported that the National Fund was preparing to set a precedent allowing it to expand settlements in the areas between Hebron and Bethlehem, east and west of Ramallah, as well as in the northern Jordan Valley.
And Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz had asked the presidency of the Jewish National Fund not to take any decision regarding expanding settlements in the West Bank through the purchase of Palestinian land.
Gantz’s request came in a letter addressed to the president of the fund, in which he asked him to wait in the decision-making until studying its expected repercussions given his sensitivity.
Gantz expressed his opposition to the decision, and demanded that the head of the fund be removed from the agenda.
Israeli media reported that the US State Department announced its opposition to the move, and demanded that Israel not take any unilateral action that would increase tension.
The reformist Jewish movement in the United States also strongly opposed the proposal, and demanded that it not be converted into a resolution.
The past years have witnessed a remarkable settlement escalation in the occupied Palestinian territories, which the Israeli "Peace Now" movement says has quadrupled during the term of former US President Donald Trump.