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The nation's top security body has given its endorsement to the recognition of 19 additional settlements in the occupied West Bank, signaling a continued campaign for community development.

Far-right Treasury Chief Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who advocated for the measure together with Defence Minister Israel Katz, asserted that the approval was aimed at preventing the establishment of a sovereign Palestine.

Under international law, Jewish communities in the disputed territories are considered unlawful.

The move has elicited censure from Saudi Arabia. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has previously stated that Israel's "unceasing" growth of communities heightens tensions, restricts Palestinians' access to land, and jeopardizes the prospects of a independent Palestine.

Increased Unrest and Political Fallout

Unrest in the occupied West Bank has increased sharply since the hostilities in the Gaza Strip began in October 2023, further heightening apprehensions that settlement expansion could entrench the Israeli presence and undermine the prospects for a peaceful resolution based on two states.

The concept of two states involves the creation of a State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem's eastern sector as its capital, broadly along the boundaries that were in place before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Since coming to power in 2022, the incumbent Israeli government has significantly increased the approval of fresh communities and started the legalisation process for informal outposts, classifying them as "neighbourhoods" of existing settlements.

Ongoing Growth

The most recent approval takes the overall count of communities authorized over the preceding 36 months to sixty-nine, per the figures from Minister Smotrich.

These approvals are announced a short time after the UN stated that construction in settlements had attained its highest level since the year 2017.

The most recent batch of approvals includes the re-establishment of two communities — Ganim and Kadim — which were removed about two decades ago.

Previously, Israel authorized twenty-two additional settlements in the occupied West Bank - what was the largest expansion in many years.

Furthermore, the government gave the go-ahead for plans in August to erect over 3,000 residences in the so-called E1 area between the capital and the Maale Adumim community, a project that had been on hold for decades amid fierce foreign objection.

On that occasion, the Finance Minister remarked it would "put to rest the idea of a Palestinian state."

Population Facts and Global Reactions

Roughly 700,000 settlers reside in approximately one hundred and sixty settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the Israel-based monitoring organization Peace Now. This is territory that Palestinians aspire to have for a future sovereign nation.

Settlement expansion has angered Arab states who have consistently contended it erodes chances for a peaceful two-state outcome.

It has furthermore fueled anxieties about the eventual formal annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Former US President Donald Trump had previously admonished Israel about such a move, telling TIME magazine that Israel would lose all its support from the US if it proceeded.

In a diplomatic shift, the United Kingdom - along with other nations such as Australia and Canada - recognised a Palestinian state, a significant although primarily ceremonial adjustment in foreign policy.

The Israeli government was against the move, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that a Palestinian state "is not going to occur."