Israel Approves Largest Expansion in West Bank since Oslo Agreements
Featured image: new illegal settlement in West Bank. Source: Trocaire.
The Israeli government has approved the construction of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, the largest expansion since Oslo Agreements according to a report done by the association Peace Now.
The approval includes the legalization of outposts already built as well as two settlements in the northern West Bank that were evacuated in 2005. 12 of the new settlements approved are existing outposts that will be legalized, one will be recognized as an independent settlement, and 9 are entirely new settlements.
The International Court of Justice declared last July that Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal.
According to Palestinian figures, cited by the Anadolu, illegal settlers staged 341 attacks against Palestinians and their properties in the West Bank last month. Also on Tuesday, illegal Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian vehicles and attacked homes in Qaryut, south of Nablus. Dozens of settlers attacked the southern area of Qaryut, stoning homes and torching several vehicles.
A photojournalist beaten was among the targets of the Israeli illegal settlers. The journalist works for Anadolu news agency and was covering the clashes in an area close to Ramallah.
Settlers set fire to Palestinian land earlier on Tuesday morning between the villages of Al-Mughayyir and Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah. On Monday, they set fire to land near the neighboring village of Kafr Malik.
A few days ago, settlers burned an area of more than 200 square meters in the Marj Sa’i plain, between the villages of Al-Mughayyir and Abu Falah, under the protection of the Israeli troops:
