Israel announced on Thursday that it would establish 22 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including legalizing outposts built without authorization.The move is likely to further strain ties with allies that have been critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, and the UN’s top court last year called for construction to stop immediately — a ruling denounced by Israel.The announcement comes as human rights groups and anti-settlement NGOs say Israel is moving toward at least de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory.What has Israel said about the settlements?Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is himself a settler, and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who is in charge of managing the communities, made the announcement. Katz said the settlement decision “strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria, anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism.”He added it was also “a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel.”In a statement on Telegram, the right-wing Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the initiative had been led by Smotrich and Katz.Israel has already built well over 100 settlements across the territory that are home to some 500,000 settlers.What has been the reaction to the announcement?The Palestinian Authority, which administers population centers in the occupied West Bank, described the move as a “dangerous escalation.” “This extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters news agency.Human rights group Peace Now has said the move shows that the Israeli government has the goal of annexing the territory.“The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal,” it said in a statement.It added that the move would “dramatically reshape the West Bank and further entrench the occupation.”Earlier this month, Britain, France and Canada threatened to impose targeted sanctions if Israel continued to expand settlements. Some settlers have already been sanctioned in the past for attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.Obstacle to two-state solutionIsrael has pushed ahead with faster settlement construction in recent years, meaning that the 3 million Palestinians living in the territory are being relegated to ever smaller areas.This makes the prospect of establishing an independent Palestinian state even more remote.Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Six-Day War, and the Palestinians want all three territories for a future state.An international conference to be led by France and Saudi Arabia at UN headquarters in New York next month is meant to breathe new life into the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.But Thursday’s announcement, and recent suggestions by leading figures in the Israeli government that settlements be reestablished in the Gaza Strip, are likely to weigh against the chances of such a solution in the near future.
