‘Israel’ Approves 560 Illegal Settler Units in Bethlehem

By Staff, Agencies

The Zionist occupation regime approved plans for the construction of hundreds of new settler units on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

The Director of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission office in Bethlehem, Hassan Brijieh, said the construction of 560 new settler units in Mtsad settlement, built illegally on Palestinian land in the villages of Kisan and Al-Rashaydeh, located southeast of Bethlehem, were approved, Wafa news agency reported.

The decision comes days after occupation authorities approved building 90 new settler units in Ebi Hanahal, built illegally on Kisan village land, noted Hassan.

Bethlehem's cities, villages and neighborhoods have been subject to increasing ‘Israeli’ theft of land in favor of expanding illegal ‘Israeli’ settlements.

Hassan added that the Tel Aviv regime is targeting Bethlehem with plans to expand its illegal settlements, barring landowners and villagers from accessing their lands. The acceleration of settlement expansion, he added, is clearly aimed at taking control of the southern-eastern area for the benefit of linking settlements together.

‘Israel’ occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East al-Quds, in 1967.

The occupied territories have been earmarked by the international community for a Palestinian state. The occupation regime, meanwhile, has been building and expanding illegal settlements on the land for decades. With Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing last year plans to annex large swathes of the West Bank. He later said the measure had been postponed.

Currently, more than 450,000 Zionist occupy settlements in the territory, excluding occupied East al-Quds, home to more than 2.8 million Palestinians.