ISRAEL APPROVES MORE SETTLER UNITS

         Al-Quds (Jerusalem), 8 Muharram 1435/ 12 November 2013 (MINA) – Israel has yet again approved the construction of more illegal settler units in East Jerusalem.

         During a cabinet session on Sunday, Tel Aviv gave the go-ahead to set up two new towns of Hiran and Kassif with 14,500 settler units in the southern Negev region, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported.

         Hiran is set to be built with 2,500 settler units at the site of the Bedouin villages of Umm al-Hiran and Atir, Alray, Palestinian Media Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

         According to Israeli police, Bedouin villagers and environmental activists took to the streets in protest against the new expansionist plan.

         Kassif, which is expected to be built with 12,000 housing units, will be settled mainly by ultra-Orthodox Israelis.

         Israel has built more than 120 settlements in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem since its occupation of the lands in 1967. Tel Aviv continues with expanding the settlement construction.

         More than half a million Israelis live in the illegal settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories.

         On November 3, Israel published tenders for the construction of more than 1,800 new settler units in the occupied West Bank and East Jrusalem.

         Much of the international community regards the settlements as illegal because the territories were occupied by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands. (T/P02/E1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)