🔗 Share this article

Israel's security cabinet has formally approved the establishment of 19 additional outposts in the occupied Palestinian territories, signaling a ongoing drive for community development.

Hardline Treasury Chief Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who put forward the measure alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz, asserted that the decision was intended for thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

According to global statutes, Jewish communities in the occupied West Bank are deemed unlawful.

The decision has drawn censure from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has commented that Israel's "unceasing" settlement expansion exacerbates frictions, limits Palestinian use of territory, and threatens the viability of a sovereign Palestinian state.

Increased Unrest and Diplomatic Fallout

Unrest in the region has increased sharply since the hostilities in Gaza erupted in the autumn of 2023, further heightening apprehensions that the growth of communities could entrench Israel's occupation and undermine the prospects for a peaceful resolution based on two states.

The concept of two states envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem's eastern sector as its seat of government, roughly along the lines that were in place before the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli war.

Since coming to power in 2022, the incumbent government in Jerusalem has ramped up the authorization of fresh communities and initiated the legalisation process for informal settler outposts, recognising them as "suburbs" of existing communities.

Sustained Growth

The latest decision pushes the total number of communities authorized over the preceding 36 months to sixty-nine, per the figures from Smotrich.

These approvals arrive only a few days after the United Nations stated that construction in settlements had attained its highest level since the year 2017.

The most recent round of approvals features the rebuilding of a pair of communities — Ganim and Kadim — which were removed nearly 20 years ago.

Earlier this year, Israel approved twenty-two additional communities in the occupied West Bank - labeled as the most significant wave of approvals in decades.

Additionally, the government gave the go-ahead for blueprints last summer to construct in excess of three thousand homes in the so-called E1 area between the capital and the Maale Adumim community, a plan that had been frozen for many years amid strong international objection.

Regarding that plan, Smotrich remarked it would "end the idea of a Palestinian state."

Demographic Realities and Global Reactions

An estimated seven hundred thousand Israeli settlers live in approximately one hundred and sixty settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the Israel-based monitoring organization Peace Now. This is territory that Palestinians seek for a prospective independent state.

This ongoing construction has angered Arab states who have repeatedly argued it undermines prospects for a peaceful two-state outcome.

It has also fueled concerns about the potential annexing of the disputed territories.

Former US President Donald Trump had previously admonished Israel about this step, stating to TIME magazine that the country would lose its backing from the United States if it occurred.

In a diplomatic shift, the United Kingdom - along with other nations such as Australia and Canada - acknowledged a State of Palestine, a notable although primarily ceremonial adjustment in government policy.

The Israeli government was against this step, with PM Benjamin Netanyahu asserting that a sovereign Palestine "will not happen."