Turkey blasts Israel approving new WBank settlements

Turkey on Saturday condemned the approval of 2,500 additional Israeli settlements in Palestine's West Bank.

Such Israeli construction violates the basic rights of the Palestinian people on their territory, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The "illegal” settlements are unacceptable, and Israel's action is damaging the grounds for a two-state solution, it added.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land illegal.

Roughly 500,000 Israelis now live in more than 100 Jewish-only settlements built since Israel occupied the Palestinian West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967.

The Palestinians want these areas -- along with the Gaza Strip -- for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.