Jerusalem _ Agencies
The Israeli government has refrained from recognizing the construction of dozens of new settlements in the West Bank over the past two decades for fear of an international and private reaction from the US administration, Israel´s Hebrew daily reported on Wednesday morning.
The newspaper quoted sources involved in the case as saying that the settlements were old, some of which were described as outposts and the government refused to grant them a "settlement status". He pointed out that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu´s policy depended on giving some of that focus in a small form as a settlement to prevent some European officials from making an objection and avoiding possible confrontation with the Trump administration.
Those settlements had already been established in the 1990s and during the first decade of the current century. Israel has avoided any announcement about the official establishment of new settlements, but it has already built them from far distances from several existing settlements.
Those new settlements had been identified by the Ministry of the Interior as reviving the tracking of "major veteran settlements ", to avoid a new decision on its establishment, even though it had built stone houses and included buildings similar to those in major settlements.
She pointed out that among those undeclared settlements, "Exile Pratt " and "Alon ", which is an official part of the "Kfar Adumim ", and the District of "Tal Zion " of the militants north of Jerusalem, which is inhabited by 3,000 families for the level, and the Ministry of the Interior is defined as part of the Jewish settlement of Kukhaf Yacoub.
The sources pointed out that the Israeli Interior Ministry had taken a decision six months ago to turn the Tel Zion neighbourhood into an independent settlement, and the decision was actually taken by the Government on the recommendation of a special Committee.
Other sources said that for political reasons, Netanyahu had not given unofficial settlements as independent settlements, and such a decision would make a noise in the international arena.
