UN Secretary�General Ban Ki-moon has called on Israel to halt plans to construct a new settlement and an industrial zone in the West Bank.

On Saturday, the settlement monitoring group Peace Now reported that Tel Aviv has approved plans to construct�98 new housing units and a new industrial zone close to the illegal settlement of Shilo, located between the cities of Nabulus and Ramallah.

According to�reports,�some 200 more units would be built in the project's second stage.

�The secretary general urges Israel to halt and reverse such counterproductive decisions in the interests of peace and a just final status agreement,��said Ban�s Spokesman Farhan Haq on Tuesday.

Haq went on to voice the secretary general�s concerns that �the establishment of a new settlement near Shiloh will make the prospect of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state more remote.�


[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"] UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon[/caption]


Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Tel Aviv has defied calls to stop the settlements expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israel�s settlement expansion has been among the main reasons behind the collapse of the last round of the so-called Middle East peace talks in 2014.

By Press TV