🔗 Share this article

Israel's security cabinet has voted to recognize the recognition of 19 new communities in the occupied West Bank, marking a ongoing push for community development.

Far-right Treasury Chief Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who advocated for the measure alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz, declared that the approval was aimed at thwarting the formation of a sovereign Palestine.

Under international law, Israeli settlements in the disputed territories are viewed as illegal.

The decision has elicited condemnation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has previously stated that Israel's "unceasing" growth of communities fuels frictions, curtails Palestinians' use of land, and undermines the viability of a sovereign Palestine.

Rising Unrest and Political Fallout

Clashes in the occupied West Bank has increased sharply since the conflict in Gaza started in the autumn of 2023, further heightening concerns that settlement expansion could deepen Israel's occupation and weaken the prospects for a two-state solution.

The two-state solution envisions the creation of a State of Palestine in the Palestinian territories, with East Jerusalem as its capital, broadly along the boundaries that existed before the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli war.

Since coming to power in 2022, the current Israeli government has ramped up the approval of fresh communities and started the process of legalization for unauthorised settler outposts, designating them as "extensions" of existing settlements.

Sustained Growth

The most recent approval pushes the cumulative figure of communities authorized over the preceding 36 months to 69, as stated by Smotrich.

These decisions come only a few days after the UN reported that construction in settlements had hit its most intense pace since 2017.

The newest group of authorizations encompasses the revival of a pair of settlements — Ganim and Kadim — which were evacuated almost in 2005.

In a previous move, the Israeli government authorized twenty-two new settlements in the territories - described as the most significant wave of approvals in decades.

Additionally, the government sanctioned projects last summer to erect over three thousand homes in the so-called E1 project between the capital and the Maale Adumim settlement, a project that had been frozen for many years amid strong foreign opposition.

On that occasion, Smotrich remarked it would "end the notion of a Palestinian state."

Demographic Facts and International Reactions

Roughly 700,000 settlers reside in around one hundred and sixty settlements in the occupied territories, according to the Israel-based anti-settlement group Peace Now. This is territory that Palestinians aspire to have for a future independent state.

This ongoing construction has drawn ire from Arab states who have steadfastly contended it erodes chances for a peaceful two-state outcome.

It has also sparked anxieties about the potential formal annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Former American President Donald Trump had once warned the Israeli leadership about such a move, telling a publication that the country would lose all its support from the US if it proceeded.

In a diplomatic shift, the UK - together with other nations such as Australia and Canada - acknowledged a Palestinian state, a major although primarily ceremonial shift in official stance.

Israel was against this recognition, with PM Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that a sovereign Palestine "is off the table."