DayofPal—Israel has officially declared the illegal settlement of Givat Zeev, northwest of occupied Jerusalem, a city, the fifth Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank to receive city status.
The declaration is part of a sweeping settlement expansion campaign led by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has explicitly stated that the project is designed to destroy any possibility of a Palestinian state.
Givat Zeev was established in 1977 on land confiscated from three Palestinian villages, five kilometers northwest of occupied Jerusalem. It now has a population of more than 25,000 settlers living on stolen Palestinian land.
Like all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, it is illegal under international law.
Smotrich welcomed the declaration as part of a broader government policy to strengthen Jewish settlement through the establishment of new settlements, the legalization of outposts, and additional land seizure initiatives.
The city declaration is one component of what Smotrich has called a “settlement revolution.”
Following the Israeli cabinet’s recent approval of 13 new settlements in the central occupied West Bank, Smotrich announced that the expansion would extend beyond the West Bank into the Naqab and Galilee to deepen demographic and geographic control.
The 13 new settlements are positioned along strategic corridors, particularly Route 60, the central artery connecting the Palestinian cities of Nablus, Ramallah, and Bethlehem, as well as territory extending eastward toward the Jordan Valley.
Israeli officials have stated the expansion is designed to entrench Israeli control over the occupied West Bank, isolate occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of Palestinian territory, and make the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state geographically impossible.
Smotrich has repeatedly and openly declared his opposition to a Palestinian state and pledged to continue working to prevent its creation.
In June, he announced the seizure of 465 dunums of Palestinian land near Ramallah, pledging to continue construction and strengthen what he called “effective sovereignty on the ground.”
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