Final approval of 1,427 new Israeli settlement units in the West Bank is anticipated by the Israeli Civil Administration.
Peace Now, an Israeli Non-Governmental Agency that monitors settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, says that now, since U.S. president Donald Trump was elected in November of 2016, the rate of construction of Israeli settlements has tripled (14,454), compared to the 18 months before his inauguration (4,476).
Since 1967, Israel has occupied the West Bank of Palestine, and moved between 500,000 and 600,000 of its citizens onto approximately 196 settlement Palestinian owned land.
Israeli news outlet Haaretz stated that a sub-committee of the Civil Administration is said to be moving toward the authorization of planning for another 3,500 housing units to be built on occupied Palestinian land.
Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention states that the occupying state is forbidden to transfer its own population onto the land it occupies, therefore under international law, all Israeli settlements are illegal.
