Israeli settler expansion plan sparks a “coming storm”
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Salma Hossein
- . January 26, 2023
- . Update: January 26, 2023 6:37 pm
An Israeli publication reported on Wednesday that the Israeli government is preparing to carry out unprecedented settlement activity in the West Bank, including the construction of 18,000 homes.
The Israeli publication Israel Today called the action, which is considered as a major danger to the Palestinians, a “revolution in Israeli politics in the West Bank” and a “mini-annexation.”
Israel’s One Million Settlers plan will allow thousands of settlements that have been placed on hold for the past two and a half years.
Along with the movement of hundreds of thousands of settlers to the West Bank and the registration of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in official Israeli government records, the initiative also calls for the construction of 18,000 homes in the upcoming months.
The new Israeli government, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is in a mad dash against time to impose brand-new realities on the ground, rendering talk of a two-state solution “unrealistic and nonsensical.”
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It also irrevocably closes the door on any international and regional efforts to settle the problem peacefully and undercuts any chance for the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, the ministry continued.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, met with leaders of the settlers and informed them of a campaign to demolish Palestinian buildings and residences in any locations designated as Class C, as per Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intentions.
According to the newspaper, the incoming administration would attempt to legalise settlement outposts like Avitar and Homesh, which are close to Nablus, by altering the “separation/withdrawal” statute and connecting the locations to essential infrastructure.
The Ministry of Defense will hand over control of the Israeli Civil Administration to another ministry, enabling settlement road building and settlement construction plans.
The strategy is described in the newspaper as “a coming storm,” and it coincides with the division of duties between Gallant and leader of Religious Zionism Bezalel Smotrich.
Jamal Nazzal, a spokesman for Fatah, decried the Israeli Knesset’s decision to extend for another five years the “apartheid” law’s emergency measures that apply Israeli laws to settlements in the occupied West Bank.
According to Nazzal, the unilateral action immediately endangered Palestinian rights. “The rights of the Palestinian people in the territories occupied by Israel are threatened by the Israeli government’s strategy of extending the foundation of racist anti-democratic legislation.” In order to imprison Palestinians from the occupied areas inside of Israel, Israel tries to take advantage of the apartheid statute. International law forbids the occupying state from imprisoning inhabitants, hence this is illegal.
