Israel Makes Illegal Settlement Construction Too Easy, US ‘Deeply Concerned’

The move comes before the government decides to build thousands of new homes, which could then be built quickly.

This is an amendment to the practice in place since 1996. Previously, five different stages had to be completed before proceeding with construction. For example, it gave the prime minister or the defense minister the opportunity to apply the brakes at various times if international pressure was applied to Israel or security was at risk.

Now only one minister needs to sign off on the whole process, and that is Smodrich – the prime minister who still needs to give approval at the end of the ride.

This will speed up the process significantly, which worries human rights activists. No one doubts that Smodrich will speed things up. He is an immigrant, recently said in a speech that “Palestinians do not exist,” and has previously called for doubling the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank. on Twitter Smodrich said happily, ‘The building boom in Judea and Samaria (Biblical Names for the Region, ed.) To be continued’.

‘An obstacle to peace’

The US expressed “deep concern” over the developments. “Such unilateral actions make achieving a two-state solution more difficult and stand in the way of peace,” a State Department spokesman said.

The Biden administration has long been critical of Israeli policy in the West Bank, and the decision to respond immediately reflects a growing sense of frustration. That is reinforced by the US pressing for an issue close to both countries: the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. This week, US Under Secretary of State Barbara Leaf will fly to the region to make a case. This decision did not make that task any easier.

This illustrates how much Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has to concede to keep his ultra-nationalist partners on board. He himself places great importance on a future diplomatic relationship with Saudi Arabia — he sees Israel’s reconciliation with old enemies under his leadership as a key part of his legacy — but settlement expansion is a spearhead for his coalition partners.

apartheid government’

Smodrich writes that both immigrants are well aware of Netanyahu’s bias Israeli newspaper Haaretz In his speech on Monday. And they seize every opportunity to take over Palestinian lands, irreversibly change the territory, and create an apartheid state.

Settlements in occupied territory are illegal under international law. Yet, since the war in 1967 (when Israel captured the West Bank, among others), 144 Israeli settlements and a small hundred illegal outposts have sprung up in this area – land that Palestinians believe is the heart of their future state. , but now more than 500 thousand immigrants live there.

Donald Trump’s administration decided in 2019 that the United States would no longer consider the settlements illegal, and while Biden has continued to call on Israel to stop building in the occupied territory, he has never reversed this decision.