Israel is preparing to build 3,500 new settlements in the West Bank

An aerial view showing the Maale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank (Reuters - archive)

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the Israeli government's intention to continue the settlement policy in the Palestinian territories, noting the issuance of more than 18,000 building permits this year in the occupied West Bank.

The occupation authorities approved the construction of about 3,500 new settlement units, most of them in the Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem.

According to Israeli Army Radio, the decision to build these new units was taken following the shooting that took place near the Al-Zaim checkpoint east of Jerusalem last February, which then resulted in the death of an Israeli and the injury of 8 others.

Settlement Minister Orit Struk said, “We promised and we are delivering,” and added in a post on the X platform, “We will build our homeland because we have this land. Our country will be built despite all our destruction. We will build our homeland with the strength of our will.”

Smotrich, the leader of the right-wing Religious Zionism Party and a minister in the War Council, added in a post on the

The Israeli Channel 13 reported that the Supreme Council for Planning and Construction approved the construction of 3,500 settlement units in the West Bank.

She indicated that the decision includes establishing settlement units in the settlements of Maale Adumim and Kedar, east of Jerusalem, and Efrat, south of Jerusalem.

The United States, the European Union, and many Western countries have called on Israel in recent months to stop settlement activity and settler violence in the West Bank, as estimates indicate that there are more than 720,000 settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The United Nations and most of the international community consider settlement in the territories occupied in 1967 illegal, and Israel calls to stop it to no avail, warning that it undermines the chances of addressing the conflict in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution.

Source: Agencies