Cabinet set to approve funding for establishing 61 West Bank settlements — reports |
Israel’s cabinet is set to approve a plan on Thursday to fund the establishment of 61 new settlements in the West Bank over the next few years, according to Axios, which cited a draft copy of the proposal.
According to the report, the endeavor is expected to cost more than $350 million, with the government covering the cost of everything from mobile homes to roads and public infrastructure.
If approved, the report said, the plan would be “one of the most significant settlement expansion moves in decades.”
The report was corroborated by Israeli anti-settlements group Peace Now, which said the settlements included in the proposal had all been approved by Netanyahu’s government over the past three years.
The push by Israel to gain greater control over the West Bank comes at a time of largely unchecked settler violence against Palestinians, which has left thousands of people displaced and unable to return to their communities, some of which have been entirely taken over by settlers establishing illegal outposts on Palestinian land.
According to Axios, the proposal is the brainchild of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and is being pushed through now to ensure the funding is approved before the Knesset is dissolved.
The proposal, if passed, will allow the government to bypass the standard settlement planning process, Peace Now said.
Reached for comment by Reuters, a spokesperson for Smotrich did not provide specifics but said the cabinet vote would strengthen Israeli settlements and confirmed that these are not new settlements, but rather........