Israel announces massive expansion of settlements in occupied Western Bank

Israel's minister said 22 new Jewish settlements were acquired in the occupied West Bank, the largest expansion in decades.

Some outposts built without government authorization already exist, but will be legal under Israeli law. Defence Minister Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said others were brand new.

Settlements – widely considered illegal under international law, although Israel has made a difference in this – are one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kaz said the move “stops the creation of a Palestinian state that endangers Israel”, which the Palestinian president calls it a “risk escalation.”

Israel’s anti-secret regulator, Peace, now calls it “the most extensive move of its kind” for more than 30 years, warning that it will “significantly reshape the West Bank and further into occupation.”

Israel built about 160 settlements, and since the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinians hope to live with Gaza during the 1967 Middle East War, and Palestinians hope to live with Gaza’s future states.

The continuous Israeli government allows settlement development. However, expansion has risen sharply since the beginning of the Gaza war triggered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Katz and Bezalel Smotrich, a super-largeist and settler who had control over the West Bank's plans on Thursday, formally confirming the decision the government had taken two weeks ago.

Ministers approved 22 new settlements, namely “the renewal of the settlements of the Northern Samaritan (Northern Bank) and strengthened the Eastern Axis of the State of Israel”, a statement said.

It highlights what ministers call “historic return” to Homesh and Sa-nur, two settlements deep in the bank of the north west, along with Israel's evacuation of its troops and settlers in 2005.

Two years ago, a group of settlers established a Jewish religious school in Homesh and an unauthorized outpost in Homesh, which reported that under Israeli law, would be one of nine legal ones.

Another settlement will be reportedly not far south of Ebal Mountain near Nablus.

Katz said the decision was “to stop a strategic move to build a Palestinian state that endangers Israel and serve as a buffer against our enemies.”

He added: “This is a Zionist, security and the reaction of the state – and a clear decision to the future of the country.”

Smotrich called it “a generation's decision” and announced: “Next step of sovereignty!”

But a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas – parts of the West Bank that dominate not entirely Israeli control – called it a “dangerous escalation” and accused Israel of continuing to drag the region into a “cycle of violence and instability.”

“The Israeli government has always tried to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters news agency.

Now Peace Director Lior Amihai said: “The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its core goal.”

This step is a fight to revive efforts to restore the two-state solution to the fight to achieve the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict-internationally ratified formula, which will allow Israel to establish an independent Palestinian state with Israel-next month at the UN headquarters in New York State.

Last year, the United Nations Supreme Court issued an advisory opinion saying that “the persistent existence of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory is illegal”. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also said that Israel's settlements were “established and maintained in violation of international law” and that Israel should “evacuate all settlers.”

The Israeli Prime Minister said at the time that the court made a “lie decision” and insisted that “the Jews were not the occupiers of their own land.”