![Construction work on Israeli settlements [Mahfouz Abu Turk/Apaimages]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/settlement-MHZ_00-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Israel has announced a plan to build 11,000 housing units in the north of the occupied Jerusalem, Israel Today reported yesterday.
The agency said that the new settlement units would be built over an area of 600 dunums in the illegal Atarot industrial settlement in the north of the occupied Jerusalem, noting that the confiscating lands were owned by Palestinians.
The Israeli newspaper pointed out that the plan was drawn up several years ago, adding that it had been put on hold due to “international political pressure against the settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories,” including an objection by the former US president Barak Obama.
The former Israeli Housing Minister, Yoav Galant, was reported to have issued orders to resume the work on the settlement project after the election of the incumbent US President Donald Trump.
Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are illegal.