Daily Times

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday condemned Israel’s recent advancement of plans for over 5,500 housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank.

In a strongly worded statement by the Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Aziz Haq, he also denounced the retroactive regularization of three outposts adjacent to the settlement of Eli.

The UN chief reiterated that settlements are a flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions., and urged the Israeli Government to halt and reverse the expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to immediately and completely cease all settlements activities there and to respect its relevant legal obligations.

The statement refers to the Monday’s advancement of plans for over 5,500 housing units in Israeli settlements in Area C of the occupied West Bank, including the retroactive regularization, under Israeli law, of three settlement outposts adjacent to the settlement of Eli.

Guterres emphasized that Israel’s persistent expansion of settlements, including in East Jerusalem, “deepens humanitarian needs, fuels violence, increases the risk of confrontation, further entrenches the occupation, and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination”.

The UN chief warned that the ongoing settlements are eroding the possibility of establishing a contiguous and viable sovereign Palestinian State, based on the pre-1967 lines and impede the ability to achieve a viable two-State solution, and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.

Israel’s far-right government has approved plans to build thousands of new homes in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a move that a Palestinian official decried as part of an “open war against the Palestinian people”.

The decision comes amid rising violence in the occupied territory and growing United States criticism of Israel’s settlement policies.The Defence Ministry planning committee that oversees settlement construction approved more than 5,000 new settlement homes on Monday. The units are at various stages of planning, and it was not immediately clear when construction would begin. There was no immediate comment from the ministry.

The international community, along with the Palestinians, considers settlement construction illegal and an obstacle to peace. More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem – territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.

“The Netanyahu government is moving forward with its aggression and open war against the Palestinian people,” said Wasel Abu Yousef, a Palestinian official in the occupied West Bank. “We affirm that all settler colonialism in all the occupied Palestinian territories is illegitimate and illegal.”

Israel’s government, which took office in late December, is dominated by religious and ultranationalist politicians with close ties to the settlement movement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a firebrand settler leader, has been granted cabinet-level authority over settlement policies and has vowed to double the settler population in the occupied West Bank.

“Normally, to approve settlement expansion, there are six phases. They included things like security considerations, who was going to actually build the settlement, political considerations. At each of those stages, MKs – members of parliament [the Knesset] – and the international community could voice their concerns and often they would be slowed down,” Khan said.

“But last week the cabinet, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, streamlined that process completely and handed over almost complete control to Smotrich. He’s exercised that control today.” Netanyahu’s government has made settlement expansion its top priority since he was re-elected in November.

Khan said 900 new buildings had been approved for construction in the illegal Giv’at Ze’ev settlement.

“That is going to make this an even more permanent place than it already is,” Khan said. “Where I’m standing is supposed to be the state of Palestine if a two-state solution is ever agreed. But the frustrating thing for the Palestinians is that these settlements keep getting built. They have been ongoing since the 80s in quite significant chunks of the occupied West Bank.”