Israeli authorities are considering plans to build 1,670 new housing units in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said late on Wednesday.
In a statement, the commission said the development came shortly after 12 Western countries decided to impose trade restrictions on products from illegal settlements and called on Israel to halt settlement expansion.
It said the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved 104 new illegal settlements and established 160 agricultural settlement outposts since taking office in late 2022.
The plans, which have reached the final approval stage, include 365 new housing units in the Maale Amos settlement southeast of Bethlehem and 200 in the Talmon settlement northwest of Ramallah.
The commission said the plans also include establishing three new illegal Israeli settlement areas from scratch: Amihai on the Ramallah-Nablus border, Ein Yitav in Jericho and Maoz Tzvi in the Jenin area.
The projects would include 749 housing units across 1,125 dunams (113 hectares), while 95 units would be added to the Peduel settlement and 259 to Alei Zahav in Salfit. Two additional units are planned for the Givat Zeev settlement northwest of occupied East Jerusalem.
The commission said the plans show that Israel is seeking not only to expand existing settlements but also to establish new and permanent settlement centres across Palestine’s occupied West Bank.
Under international law, the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is considered part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and a core part of the territory of the State of Palestine. The transfer of an occupying power’s population into occupied territory is considered illegal under international law.
Despite this, Israel has accelerated the expansion of existing settlements and the construction of new ones in the occupied West Bank in recent years.
