Israel approves 19 new Jewish settlements in occupied West Bank | Palestine
Israel approves proposal to establish 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank; The government continues a construction spree that poses a new threat to the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state in the region.
This brings the total number of new settlements in the past few years to 69, a new record, according to far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has pushed the agenda of settlement expansion in the West Bank. The latest involves two men who were previously evicted during the 2005 secession plan.
The security cabinet’s approval increased the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50% during the current government’s tenure. In 2022, there were 141 settlements in the West Bank. There are 210 after final approval, according to anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law.
The approval came as the United States pushed Israel and Hamas to move to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect on October 10. The US-brokered plan calls for a possible “road” to a Palestinian state, which the settlements aim to block.
The finance ministry said the cabinet decision included the retroactive legalization of some previously established settlements or neighborhoods of existing settlements and the creation of settlements on land from which Palestinians were evacuated. Settlements can vary in size from a single residence to multi-storey buildings.
The ministry said two of the settlements legalized in the final approval were Kadim and Ghanim, two of four West Bank settlements disbanded in 2005 as part of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Many attempts were made to resettle them after the Israeli government in March 2023 repealed the law that evacuated four outposts in 2005 and prohibited Israelis from re-entering the areas.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza in the 1967 war, which Palestinians claim for a future state. It settled more than 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, in addition to more than 200,000 Jews in disputed East Jerusalem.
The Israeli government is dominated by far-right advocates of the settler movement, including Smotrich and security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Settler expansion has increased in recent months as attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have increased. During the olive harvest in October, settlers in the area carried out an average of eight attacks each day; this was the highest number of attacks since the UN humanitarian office began collecting data in 2006. Attacks continued in November, and the UN recorded at least 136 more attacks by 24 November.
Settlers burned cars, desecrated mosques, looted industrial facilities, and destroyed cultivated land. Israeli officials have done little other than occasionally condemning the violence.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said two Palestinians, one of whom was 16 years old, were killed in clashes with the Israeli army in the northern part of the West Bank on Saturday night.
The Israeli army said that one militant was shot and killed after he threw blocks at the troops in Kabatiya, and another militant was killed after he threw explosives at the troops operating in the village of Silat al-Harithiya.
The Palestinian health ministry announced that the Palestinian killed in Kabatiya was 16-year-old Rayan Abu Muallah. Palestinian media published brief security footage of the incident in which the teenager emerged from an alley and was shot by soldiers as he approached them without throwing anything. The Israeli army said the incident was under investigation.
The health ministry announced that the second person was 22-year-old Ahmad Ziyoud.
The Israeli army has stepped up military operations in the West Bank since the Hamas-led offensive on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
