Israeli government announces 11 new West Bank settlements

The Israeli government has announced the establishment of 11 new settlements in the Occupied West Bank, according to the Middle East Eye and agencies on December 22nd.

Additionally, the government is expected to recognise and legalise eight outposts and neighbourhoods established by Israeli settlers, which are currently regarded as illegal under Israeli law.

In November, at least two settlement outposts were established in the West Bank, and settlers were also reportedly using bulldozers to expand an outpost. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from the West Bank, and many are facing escalating violence from settlers and Israeli forces.

The settlements of Kadim and Ganim, which were dismantled in 2005 under then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza “disengagement” plan for settlers, are among those expected to be legalised.

Plans to establish new settlements were initially approved by the security cabinet on December 12th and were proposed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz.

Smotrich is a staunch supporter of settlement expansion and has previously discussed plans to build 3,400 housing units as “Zionism at its best.”

He hailed the establishment of the 11 settlements as “a record like no other”, adding in a post on X that the “people of Israel are returning to their land, building it and strengthening their hold on it.”

Similarly, following the approval of plans to build nearly 800 new housing units in the West Bank, Smotrich issued a statement in which he said that settlers will “continue the revolution.”

Across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, over 700,000 Israelis reside in roughly 160 settlements, with more than 500,000 settlers being situated in the West Bank.

Israeli settlement expansion is widely regarded as illegal under international law, yet Israel has constructed over 100 settlements in the West Bank, with some resembling towns with apartment blocks and parks.

The Israeli government has also sought to make it easier for Jewish people to settle in the West Bank through the purchase of land in the territory.

Jewish people have also been encouraged to emigrate to Israel under the “Law of Return“, which grants Israeli citizenship to people with at least one Jewish grandparent.

Emigration to Israel, is arguably part of a broader initiative to work towards increasing the Jewish presence in the occupied Palestinian territories and Syria’s Golan Heights, the latter of which, an estimated 25,000 Israelis reside.

Middle East Eye and agencies, Maghrebi.org