Israel ignores United Nations, begins construction on new West Bank settlement

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Jared Kushner, a chief adviser to President Donald Trump, is arriving in Israel on Wednesday to embark on a quest for elusive Middle East peace.

USA officials are calling the trip part of an effort to keep the conversation going rather than the launching of a new phase in the peace process, saying that Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, the president's special representative for global negotiations, are likely to return often.

Discussions have been ongoing since that May 22 trip, the official said.

Israel says seven Arabs were arrested over a plot to kill army officers for the Islamic militant Hamas that rules Gaza to avenge the killing of one its members.

Since 1992, much of the controversy surrounding Israel's settlement construction in the occupied territories has revolved around expanding existing settlements.

Those talks in large part collapsed after Israel ignored United States pressure and announced the building of thousands of new homes in existing settlement blocs.

For at least two decades, the goal of USA -led diplomacy has been a "two-state solution", meaning an independent Palestinian state living side-by-side and at peace with Israel.

Mr Trump has said he considers settlement expansion as unhelpful for a peace deal.

RVBC Offer to help house the homeless victims of Grenfell Tower
King also said that the department has had "so much support for the local community and we can not thank everyone enough". On Thursday, the day after the devastation, Adele visited Grenfell Tower and asked if anyone needed help.

On the campaign trail, Trump indicated he would be far more sympathetic to settlements than Obama.

At least 600,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

Palestinians vociferously object to the establishment of a new West Bank settlement, saying all such settlement-building activity hurts the prospects for a two-state solution.

Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said the USA push to revive the peace process appeared to be a serious effort.

Through U.S. mediators, Israel and Saudi Arabia have discussed a variety of potential actions that would show their intention to develop open diplomatic relations once the conflict with the Palestinians is resolved, Kara said.

A wave of unrest that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 273 Palestinians, 42 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP tally. Trump made a successful visit to the region last month and appears to have forged a good working relationship with both sides.

Talks are in an advanced stage to allow Palestinians making the Muslim hajj pilgrimage to fly from Israel to Saudi Arabia, with a brief layover in Jordan but without having to change planes, Israel's Ynet news website reported, citing an unidentified senior Israeli official. Israel identified majority as attackers.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, will come under pressure to halt what Israel sees as incitement to violence in their official media, speeches and social media. The area, captured by Israel in 1967, is not sovereign Israeli territory and Palestinians there are not Israeli citizens and do not have the right to vote.

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