{"id":45570,"date":"2025-12-22T04:08:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=45570"},"modified":"2025-12-22T04:08:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:08:13","slug":"israel-approves-19-new-settlements-in-west-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/12\/22\/israel-approves-19-new-settlements-in-west-bank\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel approves 19 new settlements in West Bank"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>The expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has reached its highest level since at least 2017<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Israel approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the far-right finance minister said on Sunday was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n<p>The decision taken by the security cabinet brings the total number of settlements approved over the past three years to 69, according to a statement from the office of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.<\/p>\n<p>The latest approvals come days after the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank \u2013 all of which are illegal under international law \u2013 had reached its highest level since at least 2017.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz to declare and formalise 19 new settlements in Judea and Samaria has been approved by the cabinet,\u201d the statement said, using the Israeli biblical term for the West Bank, without specifying when the decision was made.<\/p>\n<p>The final approval came from the security cabinet, which is part of the overall right-wing government.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: SA calls on Israel to cease \u2018illegal occupation\u2019 of Palestine to achieve peace<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-blocking-the-establishment-of-palestinian-terror-state\"><strong>\u2018Blocking the establishment of Palestinian terror state\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Smotrich is a vocal proponent of settlement expansion and a settler himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the ground, we are blocking the establishment of a Palestinian terror state,\u201d he said in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to develop, build and settle the land of our ancestral heritage, with faith in the justice of our path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: Israel launches new West Bank operation targeting armed groups<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently condemned what he described as Israel\u2019s \u201crelentless\u201d expansion of settlements in the occupied territory.<\/p>\n<p>It \u201ccontinues to fuel tensions, impede access by Palestinians to their land and threaten the viability of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous and sovereign Palestinian State\u201d, Guterres said earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of the war in Gaza, calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state have proliferated, with several European countries, Canada and Australia recently moving to formally recognise such a state, drawing rebukes from Israel.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-sharp-increase-in-israeli-occupation\"><strong>\u2018Sharp increase\u2019 in Israeli occupation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A UN report said the expansion of settlements was at its highest point since 2017, when the United Nations began tracking such data.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese figures represent a sharp increase compared to previous years,\u201d Guterres said, noting an average of 12 815 housing units were added annually between 2017 and 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese developments are further entrenching the unlawful Israeli occupation and violating international law and undermining the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Excluding east Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500 000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching Gaza truce amid strikes, clashes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Smotrich\u2019s office said the 19 newly approved settlements are located in what it described as \u201chighly strategic\u201d areas, adding that two of them \u2013 Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank \u2013 would be re-established after being dismantled two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>Five of the 19 settlements already existed but had not previously been granted legal status under Israeli law, the statement said.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-fears-that-israel-is-annexing-west-bank\">Fears that Israel is annexing West Bank<\/h3>\n<p>While all Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory are illegal under international law, some wildcat outposts are also illegal under Israeli law.<\/p>\n<p>Many of these, however, are later legalised by Israeli authorities, fuelling fears about the possible annexation of the territory.<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump has warned Israel against annexing the West Bank.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsrael would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened,\u201d Trump said in a recent interview with Time magazine.<\/p>\n<p>Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, where violence has surged since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 following Hamas\u2019s attack on Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1 027 Palestinians in the West Bank \u2013 both militants and civilians \u2013 since the start of the fighting in Gaza, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.<\/p>\n<p>At least 44 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations during the same period, according to Israeli data.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: Israeli military fired several generals over October 7 attack<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Israel #approves #settlements #West #Bank<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has reached its highest level since at least 2017 Israel approved&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45572,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45570\/revisions\/45572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}