An-Najah News - A local official said today that the Israeli occupation authorities have approved the construction of hundreds of new housing units on expropriated Palestinian lands near Bethlehem to expand an illegal colonial settlement.

Based on Israeli reports, the occupation authorities have approved the construction of 500 housing units in the illegal Israeli settlement of Tzur Hadassah said Hasan Breijieh, head of the Bethlehem office of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission.

Israel is targeting Bethlehem with plans to expand its illegal settlements built around the biblical city and district since the start of the occupation the latest of which was rezoning al-Tamara village east of Bethlehem.

Palestinian farmers who need to access their lands near settlements or beyond the Israeli apartheid barrier, particularly in the current olive harvest season.