Jewish settlements News

The announcement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is struggling to remain in power after two inconclusive Israeli elections this year, and a defeat for the Palestinians.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull offered a staunch defence of Israel on Wednesday, criticising the United Nations and vowing never to support "one-sided resolutions" calling for an end to Israeli settlement building on occupied land.

Late last year lawmakers approved draft legislation that would retroactively grant legal status to wildcat settlements across the West Bank.

Israeli religious nationalists see the Palestinian territory as part of the country, citing Jews' connection to the land from biblical times.

Two Palestinians stabbed an Israeli woman near a group of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank on Thursday before being shot dead, the army said, the latest in a months-long wave of violence.

A draft UN resolution aimed at reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks calls for a freeze on Jewish settlements and halting moves to prosecute Israel at the International Criminal Court.