Israel legalises three West Bank settlement outposts Bruchin has around 350 residents and is located in the northern West Bank, along with Rechelim, which is home to around 240 people. Sansana, home to 240 people, is in the southern West Bank, near Hebron. But Hagit Ofran of Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now slammed the government for establishing new settlements in a deceitful way. "The Israeli government is proving its true policy, that instead of going to peace it is building new settlements," she told AFP on Tuesday. This is the first time since 1990 that the government of Israel decides on establishing new settlements, and the government's manoeuvre, of establishing a committee to establish the settlements, is a trick aimed at hiding the true policy from the public. Ofran stressed the decision changes the reality on the ground. "All the years these outposts weren't legal, the state said they aren't for real, and now they suddenly are," she said. Israel considers settler outposts built without government approval to be illegal, but the international community views all settlements as unlawful, whether approved by the government or not.