Israel seeks to surround Bethlehem with settlements

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel is planning to build a major settlement neighborhood in the occupied West Bank, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

The daily said the government has allocated 1,200 dunums (300 acres) for the new neighborhood that would expand the Efrat settlement toward the southern outskirts of Bethlehem city.

According to Haaretz, the building of the new neighborhood would mean that the Palestinian city would be surrounded by settlements.

According to Palestinian figures, roughly 640,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government’s approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It later annexed the city in 1980, claiming it as the self-proclaimed Jewish state’s “eternal capital” -- a move never recognized by the international community.

International law views the West Bank -- including East Jerusalem -- as “occupied territory” and considers all Israeli settlement building there to be illegal.