Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says move aimed at ‘burying’ idea of Palestinian state Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has advanced plans to build a settlement in the E1 area surrounding East Jerusalem and derail the creation of a Palestinian state. The minister said on Thursday he would approve tenders …

Israeli cabinet voted to grant 19 settlements legal status on Friday The expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is at its highest level since at least 2017, when the UN began tracking the data. In 2025, “plans for nearly 47,390 housing units were advanced, approved, or tendered, …

Israel’s security cabinet has approved 19 more settlements in the occupied West Bank, bringing the number granted permission the past three years to 69. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself, revealed the latest proposal had been passed after pushing it through the cabinet. Mr Smotrich openly says the new …