Alexandra Sharp
Foreign Policy / May 29, 2025
Such outposts in the occupied territory are considered illegal under international law.
Israel approved a massive expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, marking a major win for the far-right lawmakers who back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition. The decision sparked international concern that ongoing efforts to secure a cease-fire deal in Gaza could be undermined as a result.
“All the new communities are being established with a long-term strategic vision, aimed at reinforcing Israeli control of the territory, preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state, and securing development reserves for settlement in the coming decades,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a joint statement on Thursday.
The decision will establish 22 Jewish settlements across the occupied West Bank. Of those, 12 will be the legalization of Jewish outposts previously built without government authorization. This is Israel’s largest such expansion since it signed the 1993 Oslo Accords, which aimed to create a pathway to Palestinian statehood.
More than 100 Jewish settlements, home to some 500,000 Jewish settlers, exist in the West Bank. Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights are considered illegal under international law. Last July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s presence in the occupied territories is unlawful and demanded that all settlement construction halt immediately. Israel denounced the ruling.
The expansion is a “dangerous escalation and a challenge to international legitimacy and international law,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Earlier this week, Abu Rudeineh warned that the move would “perpetuate regional violence and instability.”
Deadly assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank have surged since Hamas launched its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Despite international sanctions against some settlers and internal warnings that Jewish terrorism in the West Bank is out of control, Smotrich and other ultra-nationalist parliamentarians have pushed Netanyahu to expand Israel’s grip on the territory, with the ultimate goal of securing full sovereignty.
“The government is making clear—again and without restraint—that it prefers deepening the occupation and advancing de facto annexation over pursuing peace,” said Peace Now, an Israeli nongovernment organization. “The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the Occupied Territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal.”
In February, Katz warned the Israeli military to “prepare for a prolonged presence” in the area, as Israel deployed tanks to the territory for the first time in decades as part of an ongoing operation targeting militant groups in Palestinian refugee camps. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced in recent weeks alone.
Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy
