DaysofPal- A Palestinian rights organization has warned that the Israeli government is continuing a systematic policy of legalizing settlement outposts and so-called agricultural farms, converting them into officially recognized settlements throughout the occupied West Bank in violation of international law.
In a report released on Saturday, the National Office for the Defense of Land and Resistance to Settlements said the Israeli occupation is moving forward with settlement expansion without regard for international legal frameworks, describing the state as operating with impunity under U.S. protection.
According to the report, the Israeli security cabinet recently approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the West Bank, a move the organization described as a serious breach of international law.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich characterized the decision as “historic,” openly stating that its purpose is to block the creation of a Palestinian state.
With the latest approvals, the number of settlements authorized over the past three years has reached 69, Smotrich said.
The report noted that the newly sanctioned settlements are spread across several West Bank governorates and largely consist of previously evacuated settlements, illegal outposts, pastoral farms operated by extremist settlers, or neighborhoods of existing settlements that have now been elevated to full settlement status.
This upgrade, the report explained, brings formal legal recognition along with government budgets and infrastructure development.
The organization said the decision reflects an accelerating policy pursued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to entrench Israeli control across the West Bank by legalizing outposts and expanding them into permanent settlements.
Previous measures included separating settlement neighborhoods from parent settlements and granting official status to dozens of outposts, significantly extending settlement presence deeper into Palestinian territory.
Some of the settlements whose status has now been regularized, including Ganim and Kadim, were originally established in the 1980s.
After the Oslo Accords, these settlements became isolated enclaves within Areas A and B. Their reinstatement, the report said, further fragments Palestinian territorial continuity in the northern West Bank, particularly in areas that were evacuated under the Israeli 2005 Disengagement Law.
The report also highlighted that the legalization of outposts and pastoral farms has coincided with plans to expand existing settlements through the construction of hundreds of new housing units.
In a related development, Smotrich announced earlier this week that he had signed an agreement with Defense Minister Israel Katz to relocate Israeli military bases from within the settlement of Beit El, a move expected to enable significant territorial expansion of the settlement.
Beit El is built on land belonging to the Palestinian cities of Al-Bireh and Ramallah and houses the headquarters of Israel’s Civil Administration, the military authority overseeing the occupied West Bank.
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