The United Nations Middle East envoy Robert Serry says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand Beit El Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank is “deeply troubling.” “The latest announcements for adding 300 [residential] units in Beit El, [which is] deep inside the West Bank, are deeply troubling,” The UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said on June 14. Serry reiterated that it is “the international community’s view that all settlement construction whether on private Palestinian land or elsewhere in occupied Palestinian territory is contrary to international law.”
Netanyahu ordered the construction of 300 new residential units on June 13 after the Israeli parliament rejected a bill to legalise settlement outposts. All settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law. The outposts are also illegal under Israeli law. Last year, an Israeli Supreme Court ruled that five buildings which are home to 30 families at Ulpana were built entirely on private Palestinian land and must be demolished.