Israel has approved construction of 40 homes and a farm in two new settler enclaves near the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem

Israel has approved construction of 40 homes and a farm in two new settler enclaves near the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday.
  
"The projects will go beyond the community's current built-up area, constituting an effective expansion of the Etzion Bloc of settlements toward the north and north-east," it said. "With their completion Jewish settlement in the northern Etzion Bloc will reach the edges of Bethlehem's southernmost suburbs." It said the plan was approved by Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

More than 310,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and the number is constantly growing. Another 200,000 live in a dozen settlement neighborhoods in the east of occupied Al-Quds. The international community considers all settlements in territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 are illegal, whether or not approved by its government.