Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian Authority official monitoring settler activity in the northern West Bank, said that the occupiers placed several mobile homes on the lands of Awarta, to the southwest of Nablus. He added that the news settlement outpost will provide homes for 20 Jewish families.

Daghlas said that the occupiers started preparing the site for the construction, paving roads to the site and installing lighting and electricity poles.

According to the official, the new settlement outpost is illegal since the Israeli government did not authorize its construction.

He added that the construction of the settlement outpost is to avenge the killing of a Jewish family in the nearby settlement of Itamar. Israel revealed that two teenager villagers were behind the killing of the five-member Jewish family.

Daghlas added that the occupiers vowed the new settlement will have no walls or borders.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Housing Ministry is planning a new settlement project in an East Jerusalem settlement.

The Israeli Army Radio said that some 800 housing units will be built in the settlement of Giv’at Ze’ev. The report said that the plan has already received Housing Ministry’s funding.

According to the report, the plan requires the approval of Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The Palestinian Minister of Settlements and Separation Wall Affairs Maher Ghnaim condemned the Israeli moves in Awarta and East Jerusalem.

Ghnaim described the settlement projects as “new crime perpetrated by the Israeli government.” He added that the Israeli moves are “an attempt to resolve the fate of West Bank and East Jerusalem through the de facto policy.”

The minister called for an international action “to stop these acts that undermine efforts to revive the peace process.”