Netanyahu's Allies Reject US Calls For Halt To Illegal Settlement Expansion - Reports

Israeli ministers from an extreme-right party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition rejected on Tuesday a call by Washington to pause settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, media said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2023) Israeli ministers from an extreme-right party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition rejected on Tuesday a call by Washington to pause settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, media said.

The Walla News website reported Monday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had urged Netanyahu during his visit to Israel last week to halt construction of new settler homes in Palestinian territories, seen as illegal by the United Nations.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionist Party, was quoted as saying that the coalition government would not "abandon the territory to the Palestinian takeover.

" National Missions Minister Orit Strook, of the same ultra-Orthodox party, likewise rejected the proposed freeze.

Netanyahu, who is leading Israel's most far-right government in history, said it would pursue settlement expansion despite mounting concerns abroad. The United States has been sending officials to Israel in a bid to prevent tensions in the region from spiraling into a third Palestinian uprising.