Starts on new settlement building in the occupied West Bank increased by 123.7 per cent last year, Israeli government data showed today.
The release by the Central Bureau of Statistics came hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to meet at the White House with President Barack Obama, who has strongly criticised settlement construction.
"We have seen more aggressive settlement construction over the last couple years than we've seen in a very long time," Obama said in an interview with Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg published yesterday.
"If Palestinians come to believe that the possibility of a contiguous sovereign Palestinian state is no longer within reach, then our ability to manage the international fallout is going to be limited."
The Palestinians have long viewed Israeli settlement construction as a major obstacle to peace talks, arguing Israel is actively building on land that should be part of their future state.
Today's data showed work began on 2,534 settlement housing units in 2013 compared with 1,133 the year before.
"This announcement confirms that the Israeli government (wants to) expand settlements and destroy any possibilities for peace," senior Palestinian official Jibril Rajub told AFP.
"Israel's government is a settler, aggressor and terrorist government which does not want peace," he said.
For its part, Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said: "It's official, the Netanyahu government is committed to only one thing: building settlements. It shows the lack of commitment to negotiations.
