Israel: $6m to build new illegal settlement in Hebron

Israel yesterday approved a budget of 22 million shekels ($6 million) to build a new illegal Jewish settlement in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Ma’an reported.

The new settlement, the news agency said, is to include 31 settlement units, a kindergarten and other public facilities.

The occupation’s Civil Administration approved the plan to build the settlement prior to the government’s approval of the budget. This means that construction can begin as soon as the funds are released by the government.

The new illegal settlement is to replace an Israeli military base located between the illegal settlement of Beit Roman and Al-Shuhada Street, which has been closed to Palestinians since 1994 when extremist Israeli Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire at Muslim worshippers killing 29 and injuring 150 inside the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Israel claims the land the new settlement is to occupy was owned by a Jewish family before 1948. Palestinians used it as a bus station until 1983 when Israel turned it in to a military base.

Read: Israel rules settlement construction can continue

More Israeli settlements in Palestine – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]