Israel okays new factories in West Bank settlement: settlers

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has approved the construction of 25 factories in a Jewish settlement in the heart of the occupied West Bank, a spokesman for the settlement said on Monday.

"We have received authorisation from the ministry of defence to pursue construction on the site of our industrial area," Ariel settlement spokesman Reuven Shapira told AFP.

"Around 10 factories exist and the project is to reach 35 factories in this area," he said, adding that work resumed on Monday.

Shapira said the defence ministry had frozen the Ariel project around a year ago to check its feasibility. The settlement lies south of the Palestinian city of Nablus and is one of the biggest in the occupied West Bank.

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