🔗 Share this article

The nation's top security body has formally approved the formalization of 19 new communities in the contested West Bank, signaling a continued push for community development.

Far-right Treasury Chief Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who put forward the step alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz, asserted that the decision was aimed at blocking the creation of a sovereign Palestine.

According to global statutes, Jewish communities in the occupied West Bank are deemed illegal.

The announcement has drawn censure from Saudi Arabia. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has commented that Israel's "persistent" growth of communities exacerbates frictions, restricts Palestinians' access to land, and threatens the prospects of a independent Palestine.

Increased Tensions and Political Fallout

Violence in the region has surged since the war in the Gaza Strip erupted in October 2023, intensifying fears that the growth of communities could entrench Israel's occupation and undermine the chance for a two-state solution.

The two-state solution involves the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem's eastern sector as its seat of government, broadly along the lines that were in place prior to the 1967 Six-Day Middle East war.

Since coming to power in late 2022, the incumbent Israeli government has significantly increased the authorization of new settlements and initiated the legalisation process for informal settler outposts, recognising them as "neighbourhoods" of existing communities.

Ongoing Expansion

The latest decision brings the cumulative figure of settlements approved over the preceding 36 months to 69, as stated by Minister Smotrich.

These approvals come a short time after the UN said that construction in settlements had reached its most intense pace since 2017.

The most recent group of approvals includes the re-establishment of two communities — Ganim and Kadim — which were dismantled almost 20 years ago.

In a previous move, Israel gave the nod to 22 new settlements in the territories - labeled as the most significant expansion in many years.

Additionally, the government gave the go-ahead for blueprints last summer to erect over 3,000 housing units in the controversial E1 corridor between the capital and the Maale Adumim settlement, a plan that had been frozen for decades amid strong international opposition.

Regarding that plan, Smotrich remarked it would "bury the idea of a Palestinian state."

Population Realities and International Response

Roughly 700,000 Israeli settlers live in around 160 communities in the occupied territories, as per data from the Israeli monitoring organization Peace Now. This is territory that Palestinians aspire to have for a prospective independent state.

Settlement expansion has angered Arab nations who have repeatedly argued it erodes prospects for a two-state solution.

It has also fueled anxieties about the eventual formal annexation of the disputed territories.

Former US President Donald Trump had previously cautioned the Israeli leadership about such a move, stating to a publication that Israel would lose all its support from the United States if it happened.

In a diplomatic shift, the United Kingdom - along with other countries including Australia and Canada - recognised a Palestinian state, a notable although primarily ceremonial adjustment in official stance.

The Israeli government opposed the move, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserting that a sovereign Palestine "is off the table."