The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) approved on Wednesday the establishment of hundreds of settlement units in Bethlehem in the West Bank.
The approved settlement units will be built in Efrat illegal settlement at the expense of Palestinian lands south of Bethlehem.
The Israeli supreme court had earlier refused an appeal submitted by Palestinians to prevent the settlement expansion plan which will seize 1200 dunums of Khallet Al-Nahla area in Wadi Rahal village south of Bethlehem.
The IOA plan also includes the establishment of a new Jewish settlement with 7000 settlement units in Bethlehem.
Around 650000 Israeli settlers currently live in more than 130 settlements built since 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank and Jerusalem.
International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Israeli settlement-building activity there illegal.
