Capitals – “Gulf” – Agencies:

Yesterday, Wednesday, a military spokesman announced that Israel had approved plans to build more than 3,000 units for immigrants in the West Bank; This comes a day after the United States criticized such moves, while Arab calls were issued to halt the project, when details of a tense phone call between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantous were leaked to the media.

The Israeli military said in a statement: Last Sunday, the Israeli Ministry of Housing announced special tenders for the construction of 1,355 new units in the West Bank.

In this context, the Arab Parliament and the Arab League condemned the Israeli government’s announcement of a tender to build about 1,300 settlement units in the occupied West Bank, as well as plans to build more than 3,000 new settlement units. 9,000 settlement units on Qalandia Airport land north of Jerusalem.

On the other hand, the US “Axios” website reported yesterday that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had clashed with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Tuesday, citing three Israeli officials. 3,000 new settlement units in the West Bank in protest against the Israeli government’s positive recognition; For the first time during the tenure of US President Joe Biden. A high-ranking Israeli official described the call as “very difficult”, according to the website: “America gave us a yellow card.” According to Israeli officials, during the call, Blinken stressed that the number of new settlement units in the West Bank and their geographical location was “unacceptable” and “asked the Israeli government to consider further the US position on settlements.” On the other hand, according to the report, Gants said he understood the Biden government’s concerns and minimized the number of new settlement units, and agreed to build 1.3 new housing units for Palestinians in the West Bank. , For the first time in more than a decade.

Gantz noted that his political opponents criticized him for meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and for granting legal status to the 4,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank. Gants emphasized. Axios pointed out that the call was preceded by another “difficult” call with Shimrit Meyer, the foreign affairs adviser to Michael Ratney Bennett, the US chief of staff in Jerusalem. The U.S. side also protested against Tel Aviv’s decision.

(Agencies)