The official Wafa news agency said that the court rejected a petition filed by the Israeli non-governmental organization Peace Now and the municipality of Hebron to prevent the construction of two 31-apartment buildings in a Jewish settlement located in the heart of the city, the largest in the West Bank. For its part, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth affirmed that these new housing units are part of a broader colonization plan.

Recently, Peace Now accused Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of running an annexationist government and condemned the planned buildings in Hebron.

Since the 1980s, no Israeli government has dared to build housing for settlers in the metropolis, the NGO, founded by former military personnel, recalled in a statement.

In Hebron, where some 1,000 Israelis live in a colony surrounded by more than 200,000 Palestinians, is located the Ibrahim Mosque or Tomb of the Patriarchs, a sacred site for Judaism and Islam.

According to various sources, some 490,000 Israeli settlers live in the numerous settlements distributed throughout the West Bank, and another 200,000 in East Jerusalem.

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