• The plan provides for the construction of 5,700 new homes. 2023 is a record year for Israeli settlements in Palestine.
• The Israeli government has also legalised some settlements from the 1990s through a retroactive resolution.
• The settlements are illegal under international law. And now the US has also taken a stance against Israel.

Israel's far-right government is pressing ahead with settlement operations in the occupied Palestinian territories. The executive led by Benjamin Netanyahu and made up of ultra-orthodox parties has announced the construction of 5,700 new homes for settlers in the West Bank. The decision has been criticised by the international community, including ally the United States, as it makes a peace settlement with Palestine increasingly difficult to achieve.

Israel's new settlements

The plan to build 5,700 new homes in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank was approved by the Israeli government on Monday 26 June. There are no further details on the operation and it is not yet clear when work will begin.

What is certain is that this year Israel will break every record for colonisation of Palestinian territories. With those 5,700 new homes, the number of settlements planned this year will exceed 13,000, surpassing the previous record of 12,159 new homes for settlers, set in 2020.

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Israel approved plans to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank a week after forces killed at least 7 Palestinians.

5K+ homes have been approved since Netanyahu expedited the process last week.

Israeli forces/settlers have killed at least 174 Palestinians in 2023.

♥ 99💬 4 26 giu 2023 · Apri su X →

Beyond the new construction, the far-right government led by Netanyahu has also approved a retroactive measure legalising a series of settlements built between 1998 and 1999 outside any legislative process, even by Israeli standards alone. Finally, another resolution has effectively transferred full planning authority over new settlements to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. With one notable detail: Smotrich is himself an Israeli settler in the occupied Palestinian territories.

International condemnation

The Netanyahu government's decision to approve a new package of settlements comes at a time of high tension and clashes with Palestine. The aim is to chip away at ever more Palestinian land, so as to weaken Palestinians and definitively rule out a peace settlement that would provide for the existence of a Palestinian state.

It should be recalled that Israel's settlement policies in the West Bank are illegal under international law. After the Six-Day War of 1967, the UN, through Resolution 242, ordered Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it had conquered militarily. Fifty-six years have passed and not only has Israel not left them, but has on the contrary systematically continued to extend its presence and control over them.

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UN's special envoy for Middle East calls on Israel to end its relentless expansion of illegal settlements on occupied West Bank

♥ 11💬 2 27 giu 2023 · Apri su X →

Israel's new plan to build 5,700 new homes in Palestinian territory has also drawn criticism from a longstanding ally of Tel Aviv, namely the United States. "We believe that settlements are an obstacle to a negotiated two-state solution along the 1967 lines, which we ultimately believe is the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," declared Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department. Relations between the United States and Israel have cooled somewhat in recent months, following the rise to power of the far-right executive led by Netanyahu. Its ultra-orthodox policies are not going down well in Washington.