Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has directed his office to prepare practical plans for asserting “Israeli sovereignty” over the West Bank.
Smotrich told the Defence Ministry's Settlement Administration to "formulate an operational plan for applying sovereignty,” adding: “We will not stop until the entire area receives its full legal status and becomes an inseparable part of the State of Israel.
"We are changing the face of the settlement enterprise not just as a slogan, but through real action.”
Smotrich spoke alongside Israel Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and the Yesha Council, during a tour of new Jewish settlements that recently received approval from the government.
"These are historic days," Ganz declared. "These steps, led by Minister Bezalel Smotrich alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz, the Settlement Administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who supports and boosts it, are unprecedented.”
"The latest of the steps—the establishment of 22 new communities—marks a dramatic revolution not seen since 1967," Ganz said. "Next week, a summit led by European countries will convene in an attempt to recognise a Palestinian state. The response must be clear: to make a bold political decision and apply Israeli law to [the West Bank]."
The territory is widely regarded as occupied by Israel, including by the UK government, making settlements there a violation of international law. However, while Israel has historically viewed the area as disputed but denied an occupation, some Israeli ministers insist that it has the legal right to effectively absorb it into the Jewish State.
Under the Oslo Accords, the territory was divided into three areas – A, B and C – with full Palestinian Authority (PA) control in A, joint Israeli-PA control in B and full Israeli control in C.
However, supporters of Israel’s position claim that the West Bank was illegally annexed by Jordan in 1950 but remains legally part of Israel and, therefore, can be returned to Israeli governance as no nation can illegally occupy its own sovereign territory.
Israel’s Security Cabinet recently approved 22 new settlements across the West Bank, including two that were uprooted by Israeli forces as part of the 2005 Gaza disengagement.
Some of the approved communities are existing outposts that had, thus far, been unauthorised under Israeli law, while others are new villages.
