Israel announced on Thursday the creation of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, risking further strain on relations with the international community already taxed by the war in Gaza.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law, and are seen as one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
The decision to establish more, taken by the country's security cabinet, announced by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, and Defence Minister Israel Katz, who is in charge of managing the communities.
"We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing settlement in the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel," Smotrich said on X, using the Israeli term for the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967.
"Next step: sovereignty!" he added.
Katz said the initiative "changes the face of the region and shapes the future of settlement for years to come".
In a statement on Telegram, the right-wing Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move a "once-in-a-generation decision", saying the initiative had been led by Smotrich and Katz.
"The decision also includes the establishment of four communities along the eastern border with Jordan, as part of strengthening Israel's eastern backbone, national security and strategic grip on the area," it said.
The party published a map showing the 22 sites spread across the territory.
'Heritage of our ancestors'
Two of the settlements, Homesh and Sa-Nur are particularly symbolic. Located in the north of the West Bank, they are actually re-settlements, having been evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel's disengagement from Gaza, promoted by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon.
Current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, formed in December 2022 with the support of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, is the most right-wing in Israel's history.
Human rights groups and anti-settlement NGOs say a slide towards at least de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank has gathered pace, particularly since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel.
"The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal," the Peace Now group said in a statement, adding the move "will dramatically reshape the West Bank and further entrench the occupation".
In his announcement, Smotrich offered a preemptive defence of the move, saying: "We have not taken a foreign land, but the heritage of our ancestors."
Some European governments have moved to sanction individual settlers, as did the United States under former president Joe Biden, though those measures were lifted by current President Donald Trump.
Thursday's announcement comes ahead of an international conference to be led by France and Saudi Arabia at UN headquarters in New York next month, which is meant to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Supporters of the blueprint, which was the basis of successive rounds of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, say the prospects for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state alongside Israel are being undermined by the proliferation of settlements.
The announcement also comes after US envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday he had "very good feelings" about the prospects for a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, adding that he expected to send out a new proposal imminently.
With AFP
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