🔗 Share this article

Israel's top security body has voted to recognize the formalization of nineteen additional outposts in the contested Palestinian territories, signaling a sustained push for territorial growth.

Hardline Treasury Chief Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who put forward the move in concert with Defense Chief Israel Katz, asserted that the approval was intended for preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Under international law, Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are deemed in violation of international law.

The move has elicited criticism from Saudi Arabia. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has previously stated that Israel's "relentless" settlement expansion heightens frictions, restricts Palestinians' access to land, and threatens the viability of a sovereign Palestine.

Escalating Tensions and Political Fallout

Clashes in the region has increased sharply since the hostilities in the Gaza Strip started in the autumn of 2023, further heightening fears that settlement expansion could deepen Israel's occupation and weaken the prospects for a two-state solution.

The two-state solution refers to the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, roughly along the lines that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Since taking office in late 2022, the current government in Jerusalem has ramped up the green-lighting of new settlements and initiated the process of legalization for informal settler outposts, recognising them as "extensions" of established communities.

A Pattern of Growth

The most recent approval pushes the total number of communities approved over the last three years to sixty-nine, per the figures from Smotrich.

These authorizations come a short time after the United Nations reported that settlement expansion had attained its peak since the year 2017.

The latest round of authorizations includes the revival of a pair of communities — Ganim and Kadim — which were dismantled nearly two decades ago.

Previously, Israel authorized 22 new communities in the occupied West Bank - what was the biggest wave of approvals in decades.

Additionally, the government gave the go-ahead for blueprints last summer to erect more than 3,000 homes in the controversial E1 area between Jerusalem and the Maale Adumim settlement, a plan that had been on hold for decades amid fierce international opposition.

At that time, the Finance Minister stated it would "put to rest the notion of a Palestinian state."

Population Facts and Global Response

Roughly 700,000 settlers live in approximately 160 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as per data from the Israel-based anti-settlement group Peace Now. This is territory that the Palestinian people envision for a future sovereign nation.

Settlement expansion has provoked neighboring countries who have steadfastly argued it undermines chances for a two-state solution.

It has also fueled anxieties about the potential annexing of the occupied West Bank.

Former US President Donald Trump had previously admonished Israel about annexation, stating to TIME magazine that the country would forfeit its backing from the United States if it happened.

In a diplomatic shift, the United Kingdom - together with other nations including Australia and Canada - acknowledged a State of Palestine, a significant although primarily ceremonial shift in official stance.

The Israeli government opposed this step, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that a sovereign Palestine "is off the table."