Israel agrees to build about 800 housing units in 3 settlements in the West Bank

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday that Israel has given final approval to build 764 housing units in three settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Smotrich, who belongs to the extreme right and opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, said that since the beginning of his assumption of office in late 2022, the government’s Supreme Planning Council has approved about 51,370 housing units in the West Bank, which is one of the lands on which the Palestinians seek to establish a future state.

“We are continuing the revolution,” Smotrich said in a statement, adding that the recent approval of housing units “is part of a clear strategic process to strengthen the settlements and ensure the continuity of life, security, and growth… and a real concern for the future of the State of Israel.”

The units will be distributed between Hasmonean, at the Green Line in central Israel, and Givat Zeev and Beitar Illit near Jerusalem.

Most world powers consider the settlements on the lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 war illegal, and many resolutions issued by the UN Security Council called on Israel to stop all settlement activities.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters, “For us, all settlement is illegal and will disappear, and it is in violation of all international legitimacy resolutions.”