By Abdel Raouf Arnaout  

JERUSALEM

The Israeli government plans to build 3,900 new Jewish-only housing units in the occupied West Bank.  

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted on Thursday that a plan to build 2,500 new West Bank settlement units would be proposed to Israel’s Higher Planning Council as construction begins on 1,400 units that have already been approved.  

Lieberman went on to assert that Jewish settlement expansion would continue in “Judea and Samaria”, a term used by settlers to describe the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 

According to the Jerusalem Post, the announcement comes shortly after Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki asked The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate illegal Israeli settlement expansion and alleged war crimes. 

Next week, the Higher Planning Council will discuss additional projects related to 30 West Bank settlement blocs. 

The newspaper quoted a statement released by Lieberman’s office in which the defense minister said that most planned expansions would take place in the Ariel and Maale Adumim settlement blocs. 

The continued expansion of Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank has long been considered the main obstacle to a viable Israel-Palestine peace agreement.