Bethlehem _ Palestine News Network
The Israeli occupation authorities on Monday approved a project to set up dozens of new settlement units in the settlement of "Efrat" on Palestinian land near the town of al-Khader and the village of Arras, south of Bethlehem (south of occupied Jerusalem).
The representative of the "anti-fence and settlement authority" in Bethlehem, Hassan Brije, stated that the "Supreme Planning Council" of the Israeli "Civil Administration" had approved the construction of 40 new settlement units in "Efrat".
"The settlers of Efrat refused to approve 40 new units and demanded that the number be increased to 106 settlement units, which has been approved," Brijie was quoted by the official Palestinian news agency as saying.
He said that Palestinian farmers in the town of al-Khader and the village of Arras (Bethlehem district) had found the Israeli decision on their land, threatening to rob more of their land south of Bethlehem.
