Israeli occupation authorities began building the first new settlement in the occupied West Bank since 1992, to house residents of the "Amona" outpost which were evacuated earlier this year.

The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported that parts of the new settlement were being built on private Palestinian land, adding that Palestinians had petitioned the Israeli High Court against the construction of the new settlement on 14 acres of their land.

Evidence presented by experts through aerial photographs showed that the land belong to Palestinians who cultivated it between 1997 and 2002, the paper said, pointing out that the Palestinians have presented papers going back to the Ottoman period, proving that these areas belong to them, but the Israeli court has not yet responded to the petition.