🔗 Share this article

The nation's top security body has formally approved the recognition of nineteen fresh communities in the contested West Bank, marking a ongoing drive for settlement expansion.

Hardline Treasury Chief Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a settlement and proposed the step together with Defense Chief Israel Katz, stated that the approval was aimed at blocking the creation of a Palestinian state.

According to global statutes, Jewish communities in the disputed territories are considered illegal.

The move has elicited criticism from Saudi Arabia. The United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said that Israel's "relentless" settlement expansion exacerbates frictions, curtails Palestinians' use of land, and undermines the viability of a independent Palestinian state.

Rising Tensions and Diplomatic Fallout

Unrest in the region has increased sharply since the hostilities in Gaza started in the autumn of 2023, intensifying fears that the growth of communities could solidify the Israeli presence and damage the prospects for a two-state solution.

The concept of two states refers to the formation of a Palestinian state in the Palestinian territories, with East Jerusalem as its seat of government, largely along the lines that existed prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Since taking office in late 2022, the incumbent government in Jerusalem has significantly increased the approval of fresh communities and begun the legalisation process for previously illegal outposts, classifying them as "extensions" of existing settlements.

Ongoing Growth

The latest approval brings the cumulative figure of communities authorized over the last three years to 69, as stated by the Finance Minister.

These authorizations are announced only a few days after the UN stated that settlement expansion had attained its most intense pace since 2017.

The latest group of authorizations includes the rebuilding of two settlements — Ganim and Kadim — which were evacuated nearly two decades ago.

Previously, the Israeli government approved 22 additional settlements in the territories - what was the largest wave of approvals in decades.

Furthermore, the Israeli government gave the go-ahead for plans last summer to construct more than three thousand residences in the so-called E1 area between Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement, a plan that had been on hold for decades amid fierce international condemnation.

Regarding that plan, Smotrich said it would "end the idea of a Palestinian state."

Demographic Facts and Global Reactions

An estimated seven hundred thousand Israeli settlers reside in around 160 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as per data from the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now. This is land that the Palestinian people aspire to have for a prospective sovereign nation.

This ongoing construction has drawn ire from Arab states who have repeatedly contended it undermines prospects for a two-state solution.

It has furthermore raised anxieties about the potential incorporation of the disputed territories.

Former American President Donald Trump had previously admonished Israel about this step, stating to a publication that Israel would forfeit its backing from the US if it happened.

In a diplomatic shift, the United Kingdom - along with other countries including Australia and Canada - acknowledged a Palestinian state, a major although largely symbolic change in government policy.

The Israeli government opposed this recognition, with PM Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that a sovereign Palestine "will not happen."