Israel’s security cabinet approved a budget of 1.3bn shekels ($434mn) for establishing 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday, adding to tensions over territory widely viewed as central to a potential Palestinian state.
UN bodies, Palestinians and most countries view the settlements as illegal under international conventions — a stance disputed by Israel — and a primary obstacle to peace.
Smotrich, who has long opposed Palestinian statehood, is head of the Religious Zionism party that draws much of its support from settlements and is running in the upcoming legislative election on October 27. The planned settlements would bring the total established under his four-year tenure to 103. Smotrich said another 1.075 bn shekels would be approved to pave roads to the new settlements. Last month, government ministers referred the settlement funding plan to the security cabinet.
Smotrich called the cabinet’s decision historic and a “day of celebration for Israel and settlements”, thanking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his support. Opinion polls point to Netanyahu losing in the October election. “We are strengthening the security of the State of Israel, killing the idea of establishing a hostile state in the heart of the country, and strengthening our hold on the homeland in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said in a statement, using the biblical term for the West Bank.
There has been a rise in settler violence in recent months against Palestinians. (Reuters)