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by IMEMC News

Israeli occupation authorities have escalated the illegal plunder of Palestinian land to build illegal settlements in West Bank, defying international consensus.

Illegal settlement activities in occupied Palestine have skyrocketed in recent months, almost tripling in 2017, compared to the number in the same period last year, according to a newly published report.

The report, which was issued by the Palestinian National Office for the Defence of Land and Resistance of Settlement, revealed striking facts about the illegal Israeli settlements, according to Days of Palestine,.

Settlements are considered illegal under the international law and even the Israeli law.

However, the consecutive Israeli government, right or left wing, allowed the expansion of settlements built on private Palestinian lands, which are considered unconstitutional by the occupation authority’s courts.

In clear defiance of the international public opinion, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is giving the greenlight to the settlement enterprises.

He laid the corner stone for 1,000 new settlement units in the illegal settlement of Beitar Illit, in the south of Bethlehem, where 50,000 Zionist settlers live.

“No other government has done as much for settlement in the land of Israel [occupied Palestine] as the government which I lead,” Netanyahu has said. “Our generation has succeeded in achieving what past generations only dreamed of.”

Having US President Donald Trump as a settlement supporter, Israel approved the construction of 2,500 new illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank, in January.

This came after an earlier announcement approving the construction of another 566 illegal settlement units in East Jerusalem.

Israel receives more than US$3bn of annual support from the United States.