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EU: Israel has made the biggest settlement expansion in decades in the West Bank

Politiko 2024-08-02 19:23:32

EU: Israel has made the biggest settlement expansion in decades in the West Bank

Israel last year built the largest number of settlements in the occupied West Bank since the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, the European Union's representative office for the Palestinian territories said.

Plans to build 12,349 housing units in the West Bank moved towards approval, the EU office said, warning that it would affect a possible deal on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Another 18,333 units are in the planning process in annexed East Jerusalem, the EU office said.

The total number of housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is 30,682, the EU said, noting that this is the highest number of new settlements since 2012.

The announcement comes as tensions have risen in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas - the Palestinian group designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU - that began on October 7.

"The EU has repeatedly called on Israel not to advance plans for settlement construction and to stop all activities in this direction," the EU office said.

The EU added that it continues to take the position that "the settlements are illegal, according to international law".

All Israeli settlements in the West Bank, occupied in 1967, are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether Israel has permission to build them.

About 490,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank, along with about 3 million Palestinians. The far-right parties in Israel's current governing coalition have demanded the acceleration of the expansion of new settlements./ REL

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