US Slaps Israel Settlement Plan

The US Embassy is “deeply concerned” about Israel’s plans to expand its West Bank settlements, a decision the country made following an attack this weekend on a settler family, the AP reports. Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said: “They murder, we build.” To wit, Israel has approved the construction of between 300 and 500 new homes in major West Bank settlement blocks. “We view these settlements as illegitimate and as running counter to efforts to resume direct negotiations” with Palestine, the embassy said in a statement. Click for more on the murders. (More US Embassy stories.)