At the end of 2024 he even promised that in 2025 Israel would annex the Jewish settlements of the West Bank.
Irael’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotric on Tuesday that Israel is on the occupied West Bank to “stay”, defending the development of Jewish settlements in this Palestinian territory, although they are considered illegal by international law.
Smotric said that 2024 was a “record year” in terms of demolitions of “illegal Arabic buildings” – based on Israeli criteria – on the West Bank, occupied by 1967.
During his visit to the West Bank, along with Defense Minister Israel Kats, Smotric said that “the Israeli government is trying to develop settlements in Judea-Samaria”, using the name by which the Israeli authorities call the area. “Judea and Samaria are the cradle of our homeland, the land of the Bible. We are here to stay, “he added.
About 3 million Palestinians live on the West Bank, along with about half a million Israeli settlers.
The far -right minister has not hidden his desire to attach the West Bank by Israel, according to the standards of East Jerusalem, which his country occupied and annexed in 1967. At the end of 2024 he even promised that in 2025 Israel would attach the West.
Both Smotrich and Kats said they did not want to “take control” of the area someday the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
At the end of November 2024, the Israeli non -governmental organization “Irene Now”, which is opposed to the settlement, had recorded 147 settlements recognized by the Israeli government and 224 others established without the approval of the Israeli authorities.
According to the European Union, in 2023 a record of spreading the Jewish settlements on the West Bank was recorded as the number of building permits issued was the highest of the last 30 years.
Source: KYPE