The Benjamin Netanyahu-coalition government in Israel on Sunday tabled plans to approve 4,650 housing units in the occupied West Bank. The plans were included on the agenda of Israel’s Supreme Planning Council that meets next week.
Although only 1,332 units are up for final approval, with the remaining going through the preliminary clearance process, the decision by the Israeli government is set to irk many.
“We will continue to develop the settlement of and strengthen the Israeli hold on the territory,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who also plays a leading role in overseeing West Bank administration.
Meanwhile, Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist group that has been using Gaza as a launchpad for attacks, condemned the move, adding it “will not give (Israel) legitimacy over our land. Our people will resist it by all means”.
Notably, for a long time, Palestinians have been demanding the establishment of an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as the capital.
Netanyahu administration in overdrive
The US, a strong Israel ally had earlier requested the Netanyahu administration to halt settlement expansion as it sees as the step as an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.
However, since coming to power again in January, Netanyahu has exacerbated the speed of approving housing units. As many as 7,00 new units have been approved by the coalition since the turn of the year. It has also amended a law that clears the path for the settlers to return to four settlements that had previously been evacuated.
It added that the UN statement “ignores Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem in which 10 Israeli citizens were murdered this month, turns a blind eye to the fact that the Palestinian Authority subsidizes terror and pays the families of terrorists, and diminishes the antisemitism that led to the murder of millions of Jews.”
(With inputs from agencies)
