Settlements — which are widely seen as illegal under
international law, though Israel disputes this — are one of the most
contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians.
Katz
said the move "prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that
would endanger Israel", while the Palestinian presidency called it a
"dangerous escalation".
The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now called it
"the most extensive move of its kind" in more than 30 years and
warned that it would "dramatically reshape the West Bank and entrench the
occupation even further".
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000
Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem — land Palestinians
want, along with Gaza, for their hoped-for future state — in the 1967 Middle
East war.
Successive Israeli governments have allowed settlements to
grow. However, expansion has risen sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the head of a right-wing,
pro-settler coalition, as well as the start of the Gaza war, triggered on 07
October 07, 2023.
On
Thursday, Israel Katz and Bezalel Smotrich — an ultranationalist leader and
settler who has control over planning in the West Bank — officially confirmed a
decision that is believed to have been taken by the government two weeks ago.
A statement said ministers had approved 22 new settlements,
the "renewal of settlement in northern Samaria, northern West Bank, and
reinforcement of the eastern axis of the State of Israel".
It highlighted what the ministers described as the
"historic return" to Homesh and Sa-Nur, two settlements deep in the
northern West Bank which were evacuated at the same time as Israel withdrew its
troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.
Two years ago, a group of settlers established a Jewish religious
school and an unauthorized outpost at Homesh, which reports say would be among
nine made legal under Israeli law.
Another settlement will reportedly be built not far to the
south on Mount Ebal, near Nablus.
Katz said the decision was a "strategic move that
prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel,
and serves as a buffer against our enemies."
"This is a Zionist, security, and national response —
and a clear decision on the future of the country," he added.
Smotrich called it a "once-in-a-generation
decision" and declared, "Next step sovereignty".
A
spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — who governs
parts of the West Bank not under full Israeli control — called it a
"dangerous escalation" and accused Israel of continuing to drag the
region into a "cycle of violence and instability".
"This
extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the
establishment of an independent Palestinian state," Nabil Abu Rudeineh
told Reuters news agency.
Lior Amihai, director of Peace Now said, "The Israeli
government no longer pretends otherwise, the annexation of the occupied
territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal."
This step is a blow to renewed efforts to revive momentum on
a two-state solution to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict — the
internationally approved formula for peace that would see the creation of an
independent Palestinian state alongside Israel — with a French-Saudi summit
planned at the UN's headquarters in New York next month.
Last
year, the UN's top court issued an advisory opinion saung, "Israel's
continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful". The
International Court of Justice (ICJ) also said Israeli settlements "have
been established and are being maintained in violation of international
law", and that Israel should "evacuate all settlers".
Israel's prime minister said at the time that the court had made a
"decision of lies" and insisted that "the Jewish people are not
occupiers in their own land".
