Israel relaxes settlement rules in the West Bank, paving the way for new homes
The Israeli government on Sunday decided to facilitate and expedite the process of approving new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank amid plans to build thousands of new housing units there.
The policy change also transfers primary responsibility for housing approval from Defense Secretary, currently Yoav Gallant, to Treasury Secretary Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right former settlement activist who also serves as second defense minister and who advocates for Israeli annexation. of the West Bank.
The decision came as a senior US official, Barbara Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, was due to arrive in the region. Her journey aims, among other things, to expand Israel’s relations with the Arab states — a mission that seems complicated by the prospect of more settlements in the West Bank.
Most countries consider Jewish settlements in the occupied territories that Israel captured from Jordan during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war to be in violation of international law. The Biden administration, like most previous US administrations, has repeatedly convicted build in settlements, which see it as a source of heightened tensions with Palestinians and an obstacle to prospects for a permanent peace based on the two-state solution, undermining the future establishment of an independent Palestinian state in those areas.
The change agreed on Sunday is a change to planning procedures that have been in place since 1996. The change will eliminate the need for high-level political approval at various intermediate stages of the planning process, making it more difficult for the Prime Minister and Defense Minister to delay or interrupt the construction of new settlements for diplomatic or security reasons and generally for accelerated expansion to make possible.
Government officials said the change would reduce unnecessary red tape in the approval process and that new construction would still be subject to final approval by the prime minister.
The amended rules specify that responsibility for approvals will pass to Mr. Smotrich for the duration of the current government and will apply to any government appointing an additional minister to serve in the Defense Department.
The Trump administration reversed decades of US policy in 2019 by declaring that the United States did not consider settlements in the West Bank to be in violation of international law. But the Biden administration has called on Israel to curb construction in the occupied territories, and the Palestinians have claimed the land for a future state, a goal long supported by the United Nations, European governments and US allies in the Middle East. -East.
The schedule change illustrates a balance Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to strike between the demands of his ultra-nationalist coalition partners and his stated goal of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia. While Saudi Arabia no longer demands the establishment of a Palestinian state as a precondition for establishing open diplomatic relations with Israel, massive settlement expansion is unlikely to help.
Mr. Smotrich commented on the changes in the planning process a message on Twitter. “The construction boom in Judea and Samaria and throughout our country continues,” he wrote, referring to the West Bank by Biblical names.
“With God’s help, we will continue to expand settlements and strengthen Israel’s hold on the area,” he added.
Peace Now, an Israeli advocacy group that opposes settlements and tracks their progress, said in a statement that the Netanyahu administration was empowering “a dangerous minority driven by messianic ideals” by handing over approval powers to Mr Smotrich, leader of the far right. . Religious Zionist Party.
“This decision will inevitably lead to further damaging construction in the settlements, in clear violation of international law,” Peace Now added, saying the government was moving towards “de facto annexation.”
Reacting to the Israeli move, a top Palestinian official, Hussein al-Sheikh, said Palestinian leaders had decided to boycott a Monday meeting of the Joint Economic Committee, which governs economic relations between the two sides. He said the Palestinian leadership would “examine a number of other measures” to further protest the schedule change.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jordan as well condemned the Israeli government’s decision. Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 and maintain a strategic relationship.
An Israeli planning committee will meet on June 26 to discuss projects involving more than 4,000 new settlements at various stages of the approval process. The proposed units are the second tranche of approx 10,000 new settlement homes those were promised by the government after it came to power.
Myra Noveck contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Gabby Sobelman from Rehovot, Israel.