JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Thursday that the Higher Planning Council will approve the construction of 1,973 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank during its next session. He, however, did not specify when the council will meet, Israeli Channel 12 reported. The announcement came just one day after Israel approved the building of 1,300 settler homes in the Gush Etzion settlement south of occupied East Jerusalem. Smotrich said Israeli