An Israeli ministerial committee is set to approve a bill next Sunday to annex settlements around occupied Jerusalem.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said on Friday: "The Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs is expected to approve, on Sunday, a draft law that would legalize the annexation of settlements in the Jerusalem area."

She added: "According to the bill submitted by MK Dan Iluz of the Likud Party, a 'Greater Jerusalem City' will be established, which will include settlements in the vicinity of Jerusalem, such as Ma'ale Adumim, Beitar Illit, Givat Ze'ev, Efrat, Ma'ale Mikhmas, and others."

If the bill is approved, it will be referred to the Israeli Knesset for a preliminary vote, and if it is accepted, it will be subject to a vote in three readings before it becomes a law.

The Israeli occupation government and even a number of its opponents have a majority in support of such a law.

The settlements stipulated in the bill are located north, east and south of East Jerusalem within areas classified as the West Bank.

If the bill passes, it could pave the way for further annexation in the West Bank amid growing calls for annexation on the Israeli far right.

Haaretz quoted the left-wing Israeli association Ir Amim, which specializes in Jerusalem affairs, as saying that "the bill seeks to promote illegal annexation under international law, and constitutes a continuation of Israel's flagrant violation of international law."

She added that "annexing the West Bank settlements under the bill leads to the dismantling of the West Bank, and increases the isolation of East Jerusalem and its residents from the rest of the Palestinian territories."

She added, "Such annexation will constitute another decisive obstacle to a future political solution."

She pointed out that the bill "seeks to further weaken and displace the Palestinian population in Jerusalem, by imposing an artificial Jewish demographic majority at the expense of the city's organic fabric and the rights of all its residents."

The Israeli newspaper also quoted Knesset member Iluz, who initiated the bill, as saying that "the Greater Jerusalem Law is the correct law in all respects," he claimed.

He added: "This law is an important step towards achieving full sovereignty (i.e. annexation of the West Bank). When I initiated the UNRWA closure law, we were threatened with international pressure, and I stood firm, and the law was passed without real consequences. They were just empty threats."

"The same thing will happen with the application of sovereignty," Iluz added. "When Israel sticks to its position, it emerges stronger. It is time to apply sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)."