Israel approves hundreds more houses in 3 settlements in the occupied West Bank

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has given the go-ahead for the construction of 764 more houses in three Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, a decision likely to further stoke tensions as a watchdog group accused the Israeli government of moving toward “de facto annexation” of the Palestinian territory.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday that the Higher Planning Council, the body in charge of settlement construction plans in the West Bank, approved 478, 230, and 56 housing units in the Hashmonaim, Beitar Illit and Givat Ze’ev settlements, respectively.

Smotrich, who formulates settlement policy and is a settler himself, called the council's decision part of a “clear strategic move to strengthen settlement and ensure continuity of life, security and growth." Wednesday's decision puts the total of housing units approved in the West Bank since Smotrich assumed his post at 51,370, he said in the statement.

The settlements are thought by most of the international community to be illegal under international law and the U.N. Security Council has passed numerous resolutions against their expansion.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemed the move, saying the approval was part of a settlement policy that "aims to ignite the region” and “drag it into a cycle of violence and war.”

He demanded that the Trump administration pressure Israel to stop settlement expansion "in order to ensure the success of President Trump’s efforts and endeavors to stop the war and achieve stability in the region.”

Anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now on Wednesday accused the Israeli government of “racing toward de facto annexation" of the West Bank, adding that 764 additional housing units “is not unusual,” in reference to the increasing number of approvals.

“This is a double injustice: it entrenches an illegitimate apartheid regime and will come at a heavy cost the day Israel is forced to evacuate the settlements,” the group said in a statement.

The decision comes less than a month after an Israeli government document showed that Israel plans to seize parts of a major West Bank historic site. In August, Israeli authorities approved construction on a controversial settlement project in the territory that would effectively cut it in two.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under heavy criticism from Palestinians and rights groups for accelerating settlement expansion in the West Bank, which they say is aimed at preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state there.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 war. It has settled over 500,000 Jews in the West Bank in addition to over 200,000 more in contested east Jerusalem.

Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Smotrich and Cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.

Settler expansion has been compounded by a surge of attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in recent months.

During October’s olive harvest, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks daily, according to the United Nations humanitarian office, the most since it began collecting data in 2006. The attacks continued in November, with the U.N. recording at least 136 more by Nov. 24.

Settlers burned cars, desecrated mosques, ransacked industrial plants and destroyed cropland. Israeli authorities have done little beyond issuing occasional condemnations of the violence.