Ramallah, Feb 15 (IANS): The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Tuesday welcomed international calls on the Israeli government to stop the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

"The PLO welcomes the statement issued by the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and Italy regarding the recent Israeli government's decisions, mainly legalising nine settlement outposts in the West Bank," Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary general of the executive committee of the PLO, said in a press statement, Xinhua reported.

Al-Sheikh demanded those countries turn their words into deeds and "with an international will that compels Israel to stop its aggression and unilateral measures against the Palestinian people."

Earlier, foreign ministers of the five countries expressed their "extreme alarm" at the Israeli government's decision to build thousands of new units in the settlements and to legalise nine outposts.

The Israeli government rejected the international criticism, vowing to build thousands of new housing units and legalising unauthorised outposts, Xinhua reported.

Outposts are settlements built without official permits and are deemed illegal under Israeli law.

There are dozens of unauthorised outposts and 140 Israeli settlements authorised by Israel scattered around the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel has controlled or blockaded these areas ever since.

The settlement issue is the most prominent aspect of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for halting the last direct peace negotiations between the two sides in 2014.