News - Middle East: Israeli authorities have tabled plans to approve the construction of thousands of new settler units in the occupied West Bank, defying international outcry over illegal settlement expansion and land grab activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Media reports quoting Israeli sources said on Sunday that the plans for approval of 4,560 settler units in various areas of the West Bank were included on the agenda of an Israeli planning council that meets next week.
At least 1,332 are up for final approval, with the remainder still going through the preliminary clearance process.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also handles civil administration in the occupied West Bank, confirmed the regime would press ahead with its settlement expansion campaign.
"We will continue to develop the settlement of and strengthen the Israeli hold on the territory," said Smotrich.
Smotrich was sworn in last year as a member of the regime’s new far-right cabinet led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The minister and his Zionist group have a history of making incendiary remarks against the Palestinians.
In February, Smotrich called for the Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank to be “wiped out.” Hundreds of armed Israeli settlers then attacked Huwara and the nearby villages and torched dozens of houses and cars.
During a conference in Paris in March, Smotrich denied the existence of Palestine and stood beside a map of Israeli-occupied territories that included the West Bank, Gaza and most of Jordan.
Another Israeli hardline minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir has said building new settlements is “Israel’s mission and doctrine.”