Israel\u2019s security cabinet has approved the recognition of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, deepening the government\u2019s push to expand its presence in the territory.
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By Nathan Morley<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s security cabinet has approved the recognition of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, deepening the government\u2019s push to expand its presence in the territory.<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a pro-settlement member of the cabinet, said the move brings the number of settlements legalized or approved over the past three years to 69.<\/p>\n
The latest approvals include both newly established outposts and retroactive authorizations of communities built without official permits.<\/p>\n
Smotrich said the decision aims to reinforce Jewish settlement across the West Bank and prevent what he called \u201cthe de facto establishment\u201d of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n
Settlement activity has accelerated under Israel\u2019s current right-wing coalition, which includes parties opposed to Palestinian statehood and supportive of expanding Israeli control over the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Palestinian officials condemned the move, warning that it undermines prospects for a two-state solution and heightens tensions on the ground.<\/p>\n
Western governments have repeatedly urged Israel to halt settlement expansion.<\/p>\n
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit called the approvals illegitimate and a violation of international law. He said the decision defies global consensus against settlement activity.<\/p>\n
For his part, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also criticized Israel\u2019s settlement policy, saying it restricts Palestinian access to land and threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.<\/p>\n
Under international law, Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal.<\/p>\n
\n Listen to the report by Nathan Morley\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s security cabinet has approved the recognition of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, deepening the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43,48,12135],"class_list":["post-201960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-political-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}