20,000 settler homes started in decade of Netanyahu rule

JERUSALEM: Israel has begun building nearly 20,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank during the past decade of Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership, settlement watchdog Peace Now said Tuesday.

The group’s annual settlement report highlighted how the issue complicates the chances of resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict.It said that construction of 19,346 settler homes had started between 2009 — the year that Netanyahu became prime minister for a second time — and the end of 2018. “The Israeli government is digging the country a pit to fall in,” said a Peace Now statement accompanying the report. “Even if the government does not believe that peace can be achieved in the near future, there is no logic to expanding the settlements and making the solution impossible.”