The Israeli government’s plan to build about 3500 new settlement units in the West Bank is facing widespread condemnation from across the globe, including some of Tel Aviv’s closest allies.
The country’s settlement-planning authority on March 7 gave permission for nearly 3,500 new illegal settlement housing units in the occupied West Bank territory. This is the first time since Israel’s war against Gaza started on October 7 last year that the Israeli government has approved such a construction plan.
Israeli officials said the planned constructions in Maale Adumim, Kedar and Efrat, are in response to a February shooting targeting illegal settlers.
“The enemies try to harm and weaken us, but we will continue to build and be built up in this land,” far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in charge of civil affairs in the West Bank, said on X.
Smotrich said the constructions add to the 18,515 housing units in illegal settlements approved in the past year.
Palestine calls settlement illegal and illegitimate
The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called the settlements illegal and illegitimate, adding that they “are a call for the cycle of violence to persist”.
“The ministry calls for swift international sanctions that would deter Israel from building more settlements and to include [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir and Smotrich as well as any other Israeli official who plays a role in deepening and funding illegal settlements,” the ministry said in a statement.
Hamas has called Israel’s decision “a confirmation of the Zionist plan aimed at controlling our land, restricting our people, and isolating them”.
“We affirm that this false declaration has no legal or legal basis, and is nothing but a message of defiance and recklessness,” the group said in a statement, calling on the United Nations to take “punitive steps against this criminal entity and its Nazi leaders”.
The group that rules the Gaza Strip also warned against remaining silent about the Israeli violations that escalate tension in the region.
Global condemnation
Egypt condemned Israeli decision to build settlement units in West Bank. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the move reflects insistence to continue the unlawful settlement policy, contravening pertinent United Nations Security Council resolutions and international law.
Egypt also urged the United Nations Security Council to take responsibility for halting Israeli violations of international law and to safeguard the rights of Palestinians. The ministry called for the council to support the recognition of the Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the settlements were unilateral and illegal measures that violate international law and undermine peace efforts and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Germany, calling the plans “a serious violation of international law,” urged Israel to withdraw the plans. “We strongly condemn the approval of further settlement units in the West Bank,” Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said in a statement.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson condemned Israel’s further expansion of occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank.
“The plan approved today (March 6) by the Israeli authorities for the construction of 3,500 housing units in the West Bank is a further expansion of the occupation of the Palestinian territories,” Öncü Keçeli said in a statement, adding that Israel must immediately halt its plans.
Saudi Arabia “strongly” condemned Israel’s decision to approve the development of over three thousand new settlement units and attempts to Judaized large parts of the West Bank.
Earlier, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel’s plan was “illegal, disappointing, and counterproductive to achieving enduring peace”.
“Our administration maintains firm opposition to settlement expansion,” Blinken said at a news conference in Argentina last week.