Israel approves large expansion of Jewish settlements in West Bank

Israel approved a large expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Thursday in an effort to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Jewish nation is allowing the construction of 22 new settlements in the West Bank, including the legalization of outposts that were initially set up by Jewish settlers without government approval, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry.

“The new settlements are all placed within a long-term strategic vision, whose goal is to strengthen the Israeli hold on the territory, to avoid the establishment of a Palestinian state, and to create the basis for future development of settlement in the coming decades,” the ministry said, according to The Times of Israel.

“This decision paves the way for the renewal of Jewish settlement in Homesh and Sa-Nur — a process that corrects a historic injustice and signifies a strong stance on our right to the land,” the ministry added in its statement. Those two settlements had previously been evacuated in 2005 when Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, when a law was passed that forbade Israelis from entering that part of the northern West Bank.

An Israeli non-governmental organization that tracks settlements, Peace Now, said this is the largest expansion of settlements since Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed the Oslo Accords in 1993, CNN reported.