ISRAEL HAS APPROVED the annexation of three illegal settlements in the West Bank in Palestine, the largest settlement expansion in decades, according to the watchdog NGO Peace Now. 

Israel’s Higher Planning Council has also approved the construction of 5,295 housing units across the occupied territory, Peace Now said.

The Council recognised outposts in Mahane Gadi, Givat Han and Kedem Arava on the edge of existing settlements.

The area in question makes up 12.7 sq km in the Jordan valley, “the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords”, the NGO said. 

The move comes after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to expand settlements in response to countries recently choosing to officially recognise the State of Palestine. 

“For every country that unilaterally recognises a Palestinian state, we will establish a settlement,” Smotrich said last month. 

It also comes after the Israeli cabinet approved another five settlements in the West Bank.

Peace Now, an NGO that monitors Israeli settlement activity and favours a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, said that the decision to establish the new settlements was evidence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s and the far-right Smotrich’s agenda. 

“Approval for thousands of housing units, the establishment of three new settlements, and strategic appointments of Smotrich’s allies in key roles instead of military personnel underscore the annexation occurring in the West Bank,” the group said. 

“Our government continues to change the rules of the game in the occupied West Bank, leading to irreversible harm.”

It said the process of “annexation and land theft continues to expand”, which it described as “contrary to Israeli interests” as it “severely undermines the security and future of both Israelis and Palestinians”.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was asked for a comment on the land grab and said: “Frankly, it’s a step in the wrong direction.  And the direction we want to be heading is to find a negotiated two-State solution.”

All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.

Colonial expansion in the West Bank has been a major impediment to resolving territorial disputes between the Israelis and the Palestinians. 

Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, some 490,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank alongside some three million Palestinians. Far-right parties in Israel’s governing coalition have pressed for an acceleration of settlement expansion.

Violence has soared in the West Bank since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October last year, but even before that Palestinians were being killed in large numbers. 

At least 561 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to a tally by the AFP news agency, while at least 16 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed over the same period.

Also today, Israel approved a new payment of roughly €130 million to the Palestinian Authority after announcing it had also unblocked some funds frozen because of the Gaza war, a finance ministry spokesperson told AFP.

Includes reporting from AFP

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