US 'deeply concerned' by new settlement construction

Embassy in Tel Aviv issues statement that expresses settlements as "illegitimate and running counter to efforts to resume direct negotiations."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
The US expressed that it was "deeply concerned" by the government's plans to build hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank settlements of Ma'ale Adumim, Ariel, Kiryat Sefer, and Gush Ezion, the Associated Press reported Monday.
The US embassy in Tel Aviv issued a statement saying: "We're deeply concerned by continuing Israeli actions on settlements in the West Bank."RELATED:UN: New settlement building not 'conducive to peace'PM visits Itamar victims' families: 'They shoot, we build'
The Associate Press report said that the US saw "these settlements as illegitimate and as running counter to efforts to resume direct negotiations."
The Israeli decision to build 400 new homes in the settlement bloc comes after Sunday's terrorist attack in the Itamar settlement in which five family members were stabbed to death in their home.
The UN special coordinator Robert Serry also said he was "concerned" by Netanyahu's announcement, saying increased building was not "conducive to efforts to renew negotiations and achieve a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace," speaking on Sunday.