Arab member of Knesset, Ahmed Tibi, said that the new settlement plan announced by the Israeli government that undermines any hopes for a political solution of the Palestinian issue and establishing an independent Palestinian state.
Speaking to Qatar News Agency, Tibi urged the international community to take responsibility to oppose to Israel’s settlement expansions.
Tibi said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to announce the new settlements on the eve of Land Day and after the 28th Arab Summit reflects Israel’s provocative policies.
He added that the Israeli government continues to expand its settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank following its occupational plans and disregarding all the international codes and resolution which calls to stop the settlements.
Tibi said that any American condemnation to the settlements does not reflect their true stance but is without substance and is to stabilise the situation especially that the American-Israeli understanding seems to support horizontal settlement expansions to accommodate the rapid increase of settlers.
As Israel continues its settlement policy, Tibi said, it not only targets the Palestinian right but also enters into domestic Israeli politics within the extremist right between Netanyahu and Jewish Home party that is led by Naftali Bennett, a staunch supporter of settlement who opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Tibi noted that the Palestinians are nowhere close to a political settlement as long as Israel continues its settlement expansion policy.
The Israeli government has recently approved the first new settlement in the West Bank since 1992. The decision came despite ongoing negotiations at the time with the US government to limit settlement activity. However, that didn’t prevent the Israeli government from approving a new settlement in the heart of the West Bank.
The decision to build a new settlement drew condemnations, with the UN denouncing “all unilateral actions” that “threaten peace and undermine the two-state solution.”
In turn, the Palestinian government’s spokesperson, Youssef al-Mahmoud, said the Israeli government’s announcement to establish a new settlement and confiscate 977 acres in Nablus besides the announcement to build 2,000 settlement units on occupied Palestinian territories comes as part of the escalation policy that Israel has been practising and reflects the insistence of Netanyahu’s cabinet to obstruct efforts to restore the political process.
Meanwhile, Hamas movement considered the decision a clear evidence of the Israeli cabinet’s rebellion against international resolutions that oppose settlement. 
The Israeli occupation government had announced the new settlement despite a previous warning by the US administration that any random expansion of Israeli settlements is an obstacle to peace.
The US administration didn’t directly criticise the occupation government though for approving the new settlement.
A White House official who declined to be identified said US President Donald Trump has expressed concern regarding the issue of settlements.