Israeli minister says no pause on West Bank settlements after US asked Israel to halt expansion

One of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right allies said on Tuesday that Israel would not freeze Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank, a week after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Israel to halt construction.

"There will be no construction freeze in Judea and Samaria - period," a statement from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party said on Tuesday, using the settler-colonial term for the West Bank.

Senior members of Netanyahu's far-right coalition have sought to further expand Jewish settlement in the West Bank, which was captured by Israel in a 1967 war and where Palestinians have long aimed to establish a state. Most world powers consider Israel's settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal.

On a visit to Israel and Palestine last week, Blinken repeated US calls for a two-state solution and called publicly for an end to settlement expansion.

In private talks with Netanyahu, Blinken also asked Israel to stop Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and halt the demolition of Palestinian houses, three US and Palestinian sources confirmed to Reuters, stressing that the request was not expressed as a formal demand.

Smotrich also oversees defence ministry organisations that are responsible for enforcing some regulations in the West Bank, giving him significant powers over the area.

(Reuters)