The Zionist entity on Thursday ordered officials to move forward with plans for another 1,800 settlements, just hours after issuing tenders for 1,500 housing units in a move of retaliation against the formation of a new Palestinian gov

The Zionist entity on Thursday ordered officials to move forward with plans for another 1,800 settlements, just hours after issuing tenders for 1,500 housing units in a move of retaliation against the formation of a new Palestinian government backed by Hamas.
  
"The political echelon has ordered the Civil Administration to advance 1,800 new (housing) units," the Zionist official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
  
The order relates to construction in 10 separate settlements across the occupied West Bank, all of which are at different stages of the planning process.
  
Israeli media reports said the plans had been frozen by the entity some three months ago.
  
It came just hours after Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel invited bids for 1,500 new settlements.

Of the new settlements, 400 will be in Israeli-annexed east al-Quds (Jerusalem) with the rest elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, the online edition of Haaretz newspaper reported.

"I congratulate the decision to give a proper Zionist response to the establishment of the Palestinian terror cabinet," the paper quoted Ariel as saying.

"The right and duty of the state of Israel to build across the country to lower the housing prices is unquestionable, and I believe these tenders are just the beginning," said the minister, who is a member of the far-right Jewish Home party which opposes a Palestinian state.

The announcement comes amid Israeli anger at its US ally's decision to work with the new merged administration for the West Bank and Gaza formed by Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas on Monday with the support of Hamas.

On a visit to Lebanon on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry defended the US decision.
He said it did not contradict longstanding US and European Union policy that bars all dealings with any Palestinian government involving Hamas.

Kerry said Abbas had "made clear that this new technocratic government is committed to the principles of non-violence, negotiations, recognizing the state of Israel, acceptance of the previous agreements".

"Based on what we know now about the composition of this technocratic government, which has no minister affiliated to Hamas and is committed to the principles that I describe, we will work with it as we need to, as appropriate," the US top diplomat said.