The Israeli regime says it plans to build “thousands” of settlement units in the occupied West Bank, in a thinly-veiled reaction to the recent remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry that all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands are “illegitimate.”

“We will build thousands of homes in the coming year in Judaea-Samaria (West Bank). No one dictates where we can build,” said Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Kerry said on Tuesday that all Israeli settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories are “illegitimate.”

“Let me make it clear. The policy of the United States with respect to all settlements is that they are illegitimate,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Tel Aviv regime approved the construction of another 942 settlement units in the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

On Sunday, Israel announced plans to construct nearly 1,200 new illegal settlement units on the occupied Palestinian lands.

The move by the Israeli regime came as the Tel Aviv regime and the Palestinian Authority (PA) prepare to resume a new round of talks.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said last week that talks between the PA and the Israeli regime will resume on August 14 in al-Quds.

The representatives of Israel and the PA met last month in Washington. The meeting was the first direct negotiations in three years.

The last Palestinian-Israeli talks were halted in September 2010 after Tel Aviv refused to freeze its settlement activities in the West Bank.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.

Source: presstv