Jerusalem
In another major expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli cabinet approved the legalization and establishment of numerous settler outposts, according to an Israeli source familiar with the matter.
The decision authorizes 19 outposts across the West Bank, including two that were evacuated in the 2005 disengagement plan.
Reacting to news of the decision, Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, All Israeli settlement activity is illegal and constitutes a violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions.
Outposts, in addition to being illegal under international law, are also illegal under Israeli law. Settlers establish outposts with the goal of receiving authorization for the illegal building in the future. Many of the newly authorized settlements are deep within the West Bank.
Some of the outposts have existed for more than 20 years and are home to dozens of families. Others are in locations in the West Bank that settlers view as strategic positions to expand and establish new settlements in the future.
Moayyad Shaaban, the head of the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, called the decision a dangerous escalation that exposes the true intentions of the occupation government to entrench a system of annexation, apartheid, and full Judaization of Palestinian land.
The new approval, which came at a cabinet meeting is part of a broader push by Israel’s right wing, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, to expand settlements and bury the possibility of a Palestinian state by preventing a territorial connection between Palestinian towns and communities.
The far-right Nahala movement, which advocates for the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, celebrated the decision calling it an impressive achievement that would soon lead to Israeli settlements in Gaza.
