 but it was still a valiant attempt, a great community event, and I thank you all for coming out, and happy birthday, July. At Eastern Market, John Doehm in WTOP News. An Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group says the government has approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes and settlements in the occupied West Bank. It's the latest effort by Israel's hardline government to beef up the settlements as part of a strategy cementing Israel's control over the West Bank, and they say preventing a future Palestinian state.