HomeInternational NewsIsrael intensifies settlement expansion in Occupied West Bank during Gaza war

Israel intensifies settlement expansion in Occupied West Bank during Gaza war

In the occupied West Bank, the ongoing conflict in Gaza has provided Israel with justification for continued violence and the expansion of settlements. On Wednesday, Israel’s right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced new plans to expand settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, despite international law and a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel’s ongoing presence there illegal. “No anti-Israel or anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements,” said Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionist Party and is himself a settler. “We will continue to fight against the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state. This is my life’s mission,” he added on the same day that the Israeli military conducted raids in the West Bank cities of Hebron and Nablus.

Israeli authorities have continued to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite repeated international condemnations. Analysts speaking to Al Jazeera state that these actions are part of Israel’s broader plan to annex and ethnically cleanse a region that has been under military occupation since 1967. “For decades, Israel has pursued a maximalist expansionist policy in the West Bank, but different government coalitions have approached the same goals with varying tactics,” said Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a political officer at the Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka. “What we are seeing now with Israel’s right-wing government coalition is an accelerationist approach aimed at formalizing what has long been a de facto reality on the ground.”

Since October 7, when an attack led by Hamas resulted in approximately 1,139 deaths in Israel, violence has intensified. Israel’s response has been brutal, characterized by ongoing bombardments of Gaza that have claimed over 40,000 lives, with many more expected to die as a result of the war’s other repercussions, even if fighting were to stop immediately. During the same period, over 630 Palestinians have lost their lives in the occupied West Bank. The latest death occurred on the night of Friday, when masked settlers rampaged through Palestinian towns, assaulting people and setting property on fire. “There has been a real escalation since October, as settler violence is always backed by the military and has increased significantly,” noted Ori Goldberg, an Israeli political commentator. Continued Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank indicate ongoing ethnic cleansing or even a potential full annexation.

“We are so close to the bottom,” said Goldberg, describing potential scenarios as “complete annexation” and “total war.” While analysts point out that Israel’s expansionist policy has existed even under more liberal governments, they believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current administration, which includes right-wing elements, is exploiting the war in Gaza to advance their agenda. “Israel has exploited the ongoing war in Gaza to settle old colonial scores in the West Bank by imposing sovereignty, annexing Area C, and legitimizing settlements, ultimately leading to the eviction and displacement of Palestinians—a goal of the religious settler coalition,” said Ihab Maharmeh, a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha.

Area C is a part of the West Bank that, according to the Oslo Accords of 1993, is under full Israeli security control. Israel’s expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank is regularly criticized by the international community, including its largest ally, the United States. “It has long been a firm US policy, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, that new settlements are counterproductive to achieving lasting peace,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the press in February. “They are also inconsistent with international law.”

However, in practice, the US does little to stop Israel’s illegal settlement policies, which are supported by most of Israel’s political spectrum. The US moved its embassy to western Jerusalem in 2018, despite Israel’s ongoing illegal occupation of the eastern part of the city. The following year, the US also recognized Israel’s illegal annexation of the Golan Heights, which is occupied Syrian territory. Both actions occurred during former President Donald Trump’s administration but were not reversed under President Joe Biden.

In July, the US sanctioned three individual settlers and five entities for violence committed in the occupied West Bank. However, this has not been sufficient to prevent the Israeli state from supporting settlers—Palestinians claim that the Israeli military actively supports and defends the actions of settlers at times. The current government, which includes Smotrich and right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has strongly contributed to this policy. The two have pushed for more settlements as a step toward full annexation and have been rewarded by Netanyahu with greater power over the occupied West Bank.

“The sanctions apply to settlers as individuals, but this government is largely led by settlers, so the sanctions remain at the individual level and not at the organizational level,” said Goldberg. “Settlers continue to do everything to harass Palestinians and actively expel them from their land, including various forms of mini-escalated ethnic cleansing, which is supported by the military.” Without a change in course by the US and others in the international community to hold Israel accountable for its policies and actions in the occupied West Bank, ethnic cleansing and annexation will likely continue. “Sanctioning individual illegal settlers will do nothing to deter what is a broader systemic process,” said Kenney-Shawa. “Israel acts with increasing confidence because the international community has made it clear that it is unwilling to take real steps to hold Israel accountable.”

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