The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday condemned Israel’s recent approval of 19 settlements in the West Bank, accusing Israel of tightening its control over land the Palestinians claim for a future state.

On Sunday, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the authorities had greenlit the settlements, saying the move was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority foreign ministry decried the approval as a “dangerous step aimed at tightening colonial control over the entirety of Palestinian land,” calling it a continuation of “apartheid, settlement, and annexation policies that undermine the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

“The decision provides political cover for accelerating the plunder of Palestinian lands, expanding settlement infrastructure… alongside an escalating pace of settler terrorism against members of our people and their properties,” it said in a statement.

The latest move brings the total number of settlements approved over the past three years to 69, Smotrich’s office said.

Before the government took office at the end of 2022, virtually no new settlements had been approved or outposts legalized since the late 1990s.

Excluding East Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.

The newly recognized settlements are Kida, Esh Kodesh, Givat........

© The Times of Israel