The Israeli government has authorized the construction of 1,100 new homes in Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank. The move comes just days after the Palestinian Authority submitted its request for international recognition of a Palestinian state in the entire Occupied Territories, which contains the massive settlement blocs Israel continues to expand. It also comes just days after President Obama gave strong backing to the Israeli government in his speech before the United Nations that blasted the Palestinians’ statehood bid. During his remarks, Obama made no mention of Israeli settlements or human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories. At the U.S. State Department, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered mild criticism of the new building plans, calling them “counterproductive.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “We believe that this morning’s announcement by the government of Israel approving the construction of 11 housing units in East Jerusalem is counterproductive to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties. As you know, we have long urged both sides to avoid any kind of action which would undermine trust, including, and perhaps most particularly in Jerusalem, any action that could be viewed as provocative by either side.”

Both Israel and the United States have urged the Palestinian Authority to resume negotiations instead of pursuing statehood, but Palestinians have demanded an end to settlement expansion as a precondition. A spokesperson for the Israeli group Peace Now said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is shunning the basis for peace.

Hagit Ofran: “Netanyahu is trying to persuade the world not to approve the unilateral step of the Palestinians in the U.N. Netanyahu himself is doing a unilateral step in promoting another big plan in East Jerusalem, and the message of the Netanyahu government is unfortunately that they don’t want to go to peace, but they want to go to more settlements.”