Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh condemned the choice, calling it a ‘harmful escalation’.
The Israeli authorities says it should set up 22 unlawful settlements on Palestinian land within the occupied West Financial institution, together with the legalisation of some so-called “outposts” already constructed with out authorities authorisation, in a transfer decried by Palestinian officers and rights teams.
Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich introduced the choice on Thursday, with Katz saying that it “strengthens our maintain on Judea and Samaria,” utilizing an Israeli time period for the occupied West Financial institution.
He added it was additionally “a strategic transfer that stops the institution of a Palestinian state that may endanger Israel”.
Smotrich, himself a settler on illegally occupied Palestinian-owned land and an advocate for Israeli annexation of the West Financial institution, hailed the “historic choice”.
In a press release, the Likud social gathering of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the transfer as a “once-in-a-generation choice”, emphasising its strategic worth in fortifying Israel’s maintain alongside the japanese border with Jordan.
Israel has already constructed greater than 100 unlawful settlements throughout the occupied West Financial institution which can be dwelling to some 500,000 settlers. The settlements vary from small outposts to bigger communities with trendy infrastructure.
The West Financial institution is dwelling to greater than three million Palestinians, who reside underneath Israeli army rule, with the Palestinian Authority governing in restricted areas.
The Palestinians see the territory as an integral a part of a future state, together with occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza.
Palestinians slam ‘harmful escalation’
Palestinian officers and rights teams slammed the Israeli authorities’s choice, warning that the growth of unlawful settlements would additional hurt the prospects for a future Palestinian state.
Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh condemned the choice, calling it a “harmful escalation” and a “problem to worldwide legitimacy”.
He accused Israel of fuelling instability within the area and warned the transfer breaches worldwide regulation. “This choice violates all worldwide resolutions, particularly UN Safety Council Decision 2334,” he mentioned, including that each one settlement exercise stays unlawful and illegitimate.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned referred to as on the US and the European Union to take motion.
“The announcement of the constructing of twenty-two new settlements within the West Financial institution is a part of the battle led by Netanyahu in opposition to the Palestinian individuals,” Abu Zuhri informed the information company Reuters.
The Israeli NGO Peace Now mentioned the transfer “will dramatically reshape the West Financial institution and additional entrench the occupation”.
“The Israeli authorities now not pretends in any other case: the annexation of the occupied territories and growth of settlements is its central purpose,” it mentioned in a press release.
“That is the most important batch of unlawful Israeli settlements to be accepted in a single choice,” reported Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim from the occupied West Financial institution.
“Israeli settlements are strangling Palestinian communities contained in the West Financial institution,” mentioned Ibrahim. “These new settlements fill the gaps, making a future Palestinian state virtually unimaginable on the bottom. Israel is utilizing this second – whereas world consideration is mounted on Gaza – to cement its occupation.”
The settlement announcement comes simply weeks forward of a high-level worldwide convention, collectively led by France and Saudi Arabia on the United Nations, aiming to revive the long-dormant course of to agree a two-state answer to the Israel-Palestine battle.