![An aerial view of Pisgat Ze'ev, an illegal Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and the largest residential neighbourhood in Jerusalem with a population of over 50,000 on October 04, 2018 [Mostafa Alkharouf /Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/20181006_2_32728559_37854675.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The Israeli government is expected to approve construction of 4,500 new illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank next week.
According to a report yesterday by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the expected approvals may be postponed until after Israel’s general election – which is slated for 9 April – if an ongoing dispute between the finance and defense ministries is not first resolved.
Approximately 650,000 Jewish settlers currently live on more than 100 settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories” and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.
The Palestinians, for their part, want both these territories – along with the besieged Gaza Strip – for the establishment of any future Palestinian state.
Read: Israeli army detains 13 Palestinians in West Bank raids