A picture taken on June 19, 2017 shows the Israeli settlement of Hashmonaim, west of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (AFP photo)
JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities began on Tuesday to carry out infrastructure works in Amichai, the first new Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank in about 25 years, officials said.
The works are made to prepare the ground for the construction of about 100 housing units for the former settlers of Amona, an illegal outpost built without permits on private Palestinian land that Israeli authorities evacuated in February under a court order.
The site is located next to the settlement of Shilo, south of Nablus city.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the beginning of the works. "Today, ground works began, as I promised, for the establishment of the new community for the residents of Amona," he wrote in his tweeter account.
"After decades, I have the privilege to be the prime minister who is building a new community in Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu tweeted. Judea and Samaria is a common Israeli term for the West Bank.
Amichai is the first settlement that Israel has built since it signed the Oslo peace agreement with the Palestinians in 1993.
The move comes about four months after U.S. President Donald Trump asked Netanyahu to "hold back on settlements for a little bit" to give a chance for the White House's efforts to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Netanyahu has been under constant pressure by far-right members of his right-wing coalition to step up the expansion of the settlements and even annex parts of the West Bank.
On Monday, Israel's official bureau of statistics published a report revealing that the number of settlement homes Israel began to build in the occupied West Bank rose 70 percent over the past year.
Between April 2016 and the end of March 2017, Israel began to build 2,758 new housing units, compared to 1,619 new units between April 2015 and March 2016, according to the report.
During the first quarter of 2017, 344 settlement homes were put into construction in Israel, it said.
Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war and has since been controlling them despite wide condemnation. The settlements are illegal under international law and are seen as a major obstacle to peace sought by the Palestinians and the international community.
