State-sponsored apartheid

This is becoming far too common a headline:

"Israel approves settlement growth"

Excerpts:

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has approved a plan to build up to 750 new homes in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
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Under the terms of the peace process settlement expansion is supposed to be frozen.
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"We have approved it. It is consistent with our policy of building within the large settlement blocs, which will remain in Israel in any final-status agreement," he added.
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Israel Radio said the decision to restart the development was pushed by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which had threatened to quit the government coalition unless the construction was approved.
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Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, settling about 400,000 Jews in the area, including East Jerusalem.

Settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. (Source: BBC News, March 9, 2008)