Israel approves building 7,000 new settlement units

Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett yesterday approved the construction of 7,000 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The new settlement units will be built in the settlement of Efrat in the illegal Gush Etzion settlement bloc near Bethelem in the southern West Bank.

The Jerusalem Post reported the defence minister saying that the approval came following the completion of the needed legal procedures.

The Israeli government has stepped up settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories ahead of a US-backed plan to annex parts of the West Bank in July.

All Israeli settlements and outposts are deemed illegal under international law.

“The building momentum in the country must not be stopped, even for a second,” Bennett tweeted, according to Al Jazeera.

The US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, was quoted by Israel Hayom as saying that sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley was “an Israeli issue”.

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