Israel approves 42 new settlement units in West Bank

By Anees Bargouthi

JERUSALEM

In the wake a fatal stabbing of a local teenager, Israeli authorities on Saturday approved the construction of new settlement units in southern Israel-occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported.

According to Israeli Channel 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman approved the construction of 42 housing units in the southern West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.

The settlement, located near the West Bank city of Hebron, is the same where a 13-year-old Israeli girl was stabbed to death last Thursday, reportedly by a Palestinian teen. The suspected Palestinian attacker was shot dead following the attack in the girl’s bedroom.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories," considering all Jewish settlement building on the land illegal.

About 500,000 Israelis now live in more than 100 Jewish-only settlements built since Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. The Palestinians want these areas, along with the Gaza Strip, in which to establish their future state.

Palestinian negotiators insist that Israeli settlement building on Arab land must stop before a comprehensive peace agreement can be reached.