Israel settlements in West Bank up 70%
A new report says Israeli settlement construction on the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank has increased by about 70 percent. ● Israeli organization Peace Now said on Thursday that the Tel Aviv regime began the construction of 1,708 new settler units in the West Bank between January and June of 2013, compared with 995 units during the same period in 2012. The organization also stated that the new illegal settlement activities were “drastic,” and that some 50 percent of the new construction projects were started in “isolated settlements.” Most of the settlement projects were carried out within the 1967 borders, the organization added.