Israel announced on Wednesday that it had approved the construction of 3,500 new settlement units in the West Bank, ignoring international warnings.
Israeli Settlement Minister Orit Struck said in a post on the X platform: “Approximately 3,500 additional units in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). We promised, and we are delivering.”
Struck added: “We will build our homeland because we have this land… Our country will be built despite all our destruction. We will build our homeland with the strength of our will.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also announced, via a post on the X platform, the decision to build 3,500 settlement units.
He said: “We are continuing to build the nation. 18,515 building permits within a year in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank),” noting that the current government was formed 15 months ago.
He added: “In addition to building permits, we are making a huge investment in developing transportation infrastructure, employment and quality of life.”
He continued: “The enemies are trying to harm us and weaken us, but we will continue to build in this country.”
The Israeli Channel 13 indicated that the Supreme Council for Planning and Construction approved the construction of 3,500 settlement units in the West Bank.
She indicated that the decision includes establishing settlement units in the “Maale Adumim” and “Kedar” settlements, east of Jerusalem, and “Efrat” south of Jerusalem.
The United States, the European Union, and many Western countries have called on Israel in recent months to stop settlement activity and settler violence in the West Bank.
The United Nations and most of the international community consider settlement in the territories occupied in 1967 illegal, and Israel calls for it to stop, to no avail, warning that it undermines the chances of addressing the conflict in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution.
TRT Arabic – Agencies
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2024-03-06 11:49:24
