Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-22 02:22:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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RAMALLAH, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed on Tuesday Israel for approving the construction of 650 new housing units in the Bet El settlement near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The ministry said in a press statement that expanding the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory is a reflection of the "century deal" policy and the inaction of the international community.

It was referring to the reports that U.S. President Donald Trump and his team are working on a peace deal on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, dubbed as the "deal of the century." Several U.S. officials have mentioned that the deal is in the final stage.

The statement denounced the current Israeli government as a "government of settlements and settlers par excellence," blaming it for "publicly undermining the international community and pressing ahead with recalcitrance of international legitimacy and its resolutions."

The statement also criticized the "silence of the international community and its inaction towards the situation in the occupied Palestine."

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted Israeli sources as saying that the Israeli government last week approved the expansion of the Bet El settlement by building 650 new housing units, instead of 296 units as announced earlier.

The decision was taken by the Bet El settlement council and the Israeli Housing ministry, the report added.

Israeli authorities have also given the green light to turn an agricultural land in Khader village, in south of the West Bank city Bethlehem, into a residential area, and expanded the nearby Danial settlement.

Hasan Breijiye, a member of the Palestinian Authority's settlement watchdog committee in Bethlehem area, said that the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) has agreed to change the status of nearly 100 acres of agricultural land in west of Khader village in order to build settlements.

Breijiye stressed that this is an "arbitrary policy" as the Palestinians are not allowed to make use of these lands.

Israeli settlement activity, deemed illegal by most world powers and under the international law, is considered one of the thorniest issues that hinder the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks which have hit a snag since 2014.

The last round of the U.S. sponsored negotiations between the two sides ended in 2014 after almost nine months of talks without achieving any breakthrough.