Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that Israel has begun what he described as a "settlement revolution," emphasizing that this step will not be limited to the West Bank, but will extend to the Negev and Galilee.
اضافة اعلان
Smotrich's remarks come at a time when settlement expansion is accelerating under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which relies for its survival on the support of far-right, pro-settlement parties to secure its parliamentary majority.
Last Thursday, the Israeli Cabinet approved a plan to establish 13 new settlements in the "Binyamin" region in the central occupied West Bank, paving the way for the implementation of its first phase over the coming months.
At dawn on Sunday, settlers burned down a Palestinian restaurant and café on the road connecting the town of Al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, and the city of Salfit in the northern West Bank. Palestinians state that this attack is part of an unprecedented escalation in settler assaults, coinciding with rapid settlement expansion and land leveling and confiscation operations across various areas of the West Bank.
The assault coincided with a series of other attacks carried out by settlers in several towns, including 'Anata northeast of Jerusalem, and areas in Yatta and Hebron in the southern West Bank, while the Israeli occupation continues land-leveling operations for new settlement projects.
One of the most prominent ongoing land-leveling operations is centered around what is known as the Shuafat airport near the town of Qalandiya, north of Jerusalem. There, Palestinian properties are being cleared to link the area to extensive settlement projects, a step Palestinians say aims to tighten the siege on the West Bank and divide it into separate cantons.
According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, more than 3,400 attacks have been recorded in the West Bank since the beginning of the year. Palestinians view these figures as an indicator of an unprecedented surge in settler attacks, under what they describe as a "green light" granted to them by the Israeli political leadership.
Meanwhile, the Israeli leftist peace group "Peace Now" estimates the number of settlers in the West Bank at around 500,000, in addition to about 250,000 in settlements built in occupied East Jerusalem.
Since October 8, 2023, the West Bank has witnessed an Israeli escalation carried out by Israeli forces and settlers, resulting in the martyrdom of 1,175 Palestinians, injuring 12,919 others, alongside the arrest of around 24,000 and the displacement of 33,000, according to official Palestinian data.
Al Jazeera
