19 new Jewish settlements approved by Israeli cabinet in occupied West Bank
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Tel Aviv: The far-right finance minister announced on Sunday that Israel's Cabinet has accepted a proposal for 19 additional settlements in the occupied West Bank.
According to Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, who has pushed for settlement development in the West Bank, two of the villages were previously evacuated as part of a 2005 disengagement plan.
It brings the total number of new settlements over the past two years to 69, Smotrich wrote on X.
The approval increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50 per cent during the current government's tenure, from 141 in 2022 to 210, after the current approval, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group. Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law.
With PTI inputs