The cabinet voted Thursday to grant official status to 19 illegal outposts in the West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under the Disengagement Plan, according to media and settlement groups.

According to Ynet and Channel 14, the unanimous vote was based on a proposal by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also in charge of the Defense Ministry’s settlement directorate. Ynet reported that Washington was briefed on the move ahead of time.

Mu’ayyan Sa’ban, head of the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said the decision was a “dangerous escalation” and accused Israel of seeking to “entrench annexation, apartheid and complete Judaization of Palestinian land.”

“The decision by the so-called ‘Israeli occupation cabinet’ to establish and settle 19 new colonies across the West Bank constitutes the latest step in a race to annihilate Palestinian geography for the sake of settler colonialism,” said Sha’aban, who holds the rank of minister in the PA.

The move came after the Interior Ministry on Sunday announced the final legalization of eight other outposts, with Smotrich, himself a settler, hailing the move for “promoting de facto sovereignty in Judea and Samaria” — the biblical name for the West Bank — and preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state there.

Ynet and Channel 14 said the outposts legalized by the cabinet late Thursday were Kida, Esh Kodesh, Givat Harel, Mishol, Kochav Hashachar-north, Ganim, Kadim, Shalem, Har Bezek, Reihanit, Rosh Ha’ayin-east, Tammun, Pnei Kedem, Yatziv, Ya’ar El Keren, Allenby, Yitav-west and Nahal Doron.

About half of the outposts are located deep inside the West Bank, while the others are dispersed more or less evenly along the Green Line that separates the area from Israel, according to a map published by Channel 14.

פרסום ראשון – דרמה בקבינט: סמוטריץ׳ אישר 19 ישובים חדשים ביו״ש.
בין הישובים- גנים וכדים שפונו בצפון השומרון לפני 29 שנה.
שאר הישובים – חלקם ותיקים וחלקם חדשים לגמרי, אלו הישובים שאושרו:
קידה
אש קודש
גבעת........

© The Times of Israel