RAMALLAH – The Palestinian Authority on Sunday “strongly condemned” Israel’s approval of hundreds of new West Bank settler homes following the grisly murder of a settler family. The Palestinian Authority “strongly condemns the decision of the Israeli government to speed up and increase the building of settlements,” chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP. “It strongly condemns the settler attacks against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and we ask the Quartet to urgently intervene to stop the actions of the settlers.” Israel said on Sunday that ministers had decided to approve construction of several hundred units in Gush Etzion, Maale Adumim, Ariel and Kiryat Sefer – four of the biggest settlement blocs in the West Bank. Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, also denounced the move as “a mistake” which was likely to create “big problems.”
