Israel to build new settlement homes in Hebron

By Nour Abu Aisha

JERUSALEM

The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to expand a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

The government decision includes the allocation of some 22 million shekels ($6.1 million) in funding to build 31 settlement units in the city of Hebron, according to Haaretz.

The project is in keeping with a policy to "develop the Jewish community in the city" on land owned by individual Jews, the cabinet resolution stated.

The new building in Hebron is the first substantial Jewish settlement construction there in 20 years.

"A new Jewish neighborhood in Hebron, for the first time in 20 years!" Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted. "I thank the prime minister and the cabinet ministers who approved the Hezekiah Quarter plan, which I have formulated."

According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with Israeli government approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land to be illegal.