The Israeli occupation government has approved the establishment of a new neighborhood for Israeli settlers near the Palestinian wholesale market in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil, Israel's Channel 7 reported
According to the same source, Israel’s war minister Avigdor Lieberman gave instructions for the reconstruction of new settler apartments after a legal permit to that end was signaled by the military prosecutor
The decision had been stalled for several years owing to the absence of a legal permission
The project, the second of its kind recently approved by Lieberman, makes part of Israeli attempts to grab Palestinian lands and turn them into Jewish property
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories, in violation of international law
All settlements across the West Bank are illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which establishes that the occupying power shall not deport or forcibly transfer civilian population in territory it occupies
