Eurasia Press & News
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated that Israel has announced plans for a proposed settlement in the occupied West Bank, emphasizing that this is a response to the growing global recognition of Palestinian statehood, Al Jazeera reports.
“No anti-Israel or anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements,” said Smotrich, who himself lives in such a settlement.
“We will continue to fight against the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state. This is the mission of my life,” he said.
In June, Israel announced plans to legalize five outposts in the West Bank, seize vast areas of Palestinian land, and establish three new settlements, which are illegal under international law.
Successive governments under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have allowed the expansion of settlements and undermined the significant Oslo Accords of 1993, which divided the West Bank into three areas. Approximately 18% of the territory, including densely populated urban centers, is known as Area A and is under the full control of the Palestinian Authority, which has administrative but not security control over Area B.
Area C, which makes up about 60% of the West Bank, is under the control of the Israeli Civil Administration and is the site of an increasing number of Israeli settlements, all of which are illegal under international law.
According to the Israeli research group Peace Now, Israeli authorities advanced plans for more than 12,000 housing units in settlements last year, while Smotrich and members of the Civil Administration stated at a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that 95% of building permit applications submitted by Palestinians in Area C were rejected. Since October, the Israeli government has appropriated more than 24,000 hectares of land in the West Bank, marking the largest land seizure since the Oslo Accords.
