Israeli authorities Sunday evening approved 4 new settlement projects in the West Bank, and announced that they are about to ratify the construction of 9,000 settlement units north Jerusalem.

“The Planning and Building Committee of the Israeli Municipality in Jerusalem launched working on confirming the construction of 9,000 settlement housing units in "Atarot" settlement, north of Jerusalem,” the Israeli Channel 11 reported.

Thousands of new settlement units will be built on about 600 dunums of the land of Jerusalem Airport, Qalandia, which were seized in the early 1970s.

The settlement expansion plan in "Atarot" was drawn up several years ago, but it was frozen on more than one occasion due to international political pressures that reject settlement in the occupied territories in 1967.

Jerusalem Airport is located on Qalandia town, north Jerusalem. It is the oldest airport in Palestine which was established in 1920, during the British mandate period, on a land area of 650 dunums.

The airport was used for tourism and commercial purposes to and from Jerusalem until the Israeli occupation in 1967, before it was closed with the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada (2000).

Israeli Minister of Transportation , Miri Regev Sunday approved 4 new settlement projects in the West Bank, aiming to facilitate the movement of settlers.

“A budget of 400 million shekels will be allocated for the development of transportation in the settlements,” Regev announced.

She presented the last month a long-term strategic plan for a new transportation network linking settlements in the West Bank.