The Israeli Defense Ministry has completed a widespread aerial photography operation revealing extensive building in West Bank settlements and outposts in recent months.
The photographs specify the location and expansion of each settlement and outpost in the West Bank, and were taken on two separate occasions, one in the summer of 2004 and the other in early 2005. The extensive building was revealed in comparisons between the two sets of photographs, Haaretz reported Sunday.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat, for his part, condemned the settlement expansion.
"Any settlement continuation at a faster pace puts our effort to revive the peace process into danger," he told The AP. "Everywhere we go in the West Bank we see settlement construction that undermines all the efforts being exerted to revive the hope in the minds of Palestinians that the peace is durable."
The ministry is reportedly planning more aerial photograph operations to monitor if and where further construction takes place.
