The Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing has approved the building of hundreds of new settlement units in the large illegal colonies built in the north and south of the occupied West Bank.
According to Radio Israel, the Housing Ministry issued tenders for the construction of 350 new housing units in the colonies of Beitar Illit south west of Bethlehem and Karnei Shomron in the governorate of Nablus.
Earlier this month, Hebrew media sources revealed this illegal scheme while confirming that Israel’s Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, gave the go-ahead for the new units. This, claimed the sources, was done in order to “appease settlers”, although Barak kept the plans from the US administration and the Israeli media “to avoid adverse reactions”.