DHAKA: Israeli authorities have green-lighted the construction of 800 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.

Israel’s defence ministry said on Monday it had approved a planning stage for the housing earlier this month, an initial step in a protracted bureaucratic process, with construction not expected to begin for months.

Settlement watchdog Peace Now swiftly criticised the announcement.

‘This is yet another move that threatens to derail the peace process,’ group spokesman Lior Amihai said, reports Al Jazeera.

Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas has warned that ongoing settlement-building by Israel in the Palestinian territories threatens the future of Middle East peace talks, which stand at an impasse little more than three months after they began.

The Palestinians want the West Bank, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, to become part of a future state.

BDST: 1928 HRS, NOV 25, 2013