Israel allocates $434 million for 34 new West Bank settlements

JERUSALEM, July 14 - Israel's security cabinet approved a budget of 1.3 billion shekels ($434 million) for establishing 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday, adding to tensions over territory widely viewed as central to a potential Palestinian state.

U.N. bodies, Palestinians and most countries view the settlements as illegal under international conventions - a stance disputed by Israel - and a primary obstacle to peace.

Smotrich, who has long opposed Palestinian statehood, is head of the Religious Zionism party that draws much of its support from settlements and is running in the upcoming legislative election on October 27.

The planned settlements would bring the total established under his four-year tenure to 103. Smotrich said another 1.075 billion shekels would be approved to pave roads to the new settlements. Last month, government ministers referred the settlement funding plan to the security cabinet.

Smotrich called the cabinet's decision historic and a "day of celebration for Israel and settlements", thanking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his support. Opinion polls point to Netanyahu losing in the October election.

"We are strengthening the security of the State of Israel, killing the idea of establishing a terrorist state in the heart of the country, and strengthening our hold on the homeland in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich said in a statement, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

There has been a rise in settler violence in recent months against Palestinians and their property.

About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel has not extended sovereignty to the occupied West Bank, while refuting international objections to the settlements and arguing that it is a disputed territory where Jews have lived for thousands of years. REUTERS