Israel Quickens Settlement Construction

Israel’s West Bank settlements, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once denounced as “illegitimate”, will continue being built at a new a rapid pace: “The announcement, which came from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the government’s Ministerial Committee on Settlements had decided to approve construction in Gush Etzion, Maale Adumim, Ariel and Modiin Ilit—areas of the West Bank that Israel intends to keep under any permanent accord with the Palestinians. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the decision, calling it ‘wrong, unacceptable and objectionable.'”