The area surrounding Bethlehem have been earmarked for various illegal settlement expansions [Getty]
Israel issued a tender for the construction of nearly 1,000 additional settler homes in the occupied West Bank, an anti-settlement watchdog said Monday.
Peace Now says the development of 974 new housing units would allow the population of the Efrat settlement to expand by 40 percent and further block the development of the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Hagit Ofran, who leads the group’s settlement monitoring, said construction can begin after the contracting process and issuing of permits, which could take another year at least.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, since 1967. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state and view the settlements, illegal under international law, as a major obstacle to peace, a position with wide international support.
President Donald Trump lent unprecedented support to the settlements during his previous term. Israel has also steadily expanded settlements during Democratic administrations, which were more critical but rarely took any action to curb them.
Israel has built well over 100 settlements across the West Bank, ranging from hilltop outposts, themselves illegal under Israeli law, to fully-developed communities that resemble small towns and suburbs, with apartment blocks, malls and parks.
Over 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, which is home to some 3 million Palestinians. The settlers have Israeli citizenship, while Palestinians live under military rule with the Palestinian Authority administering population centers.
Settler attacks against Palestinians have also been rising, with the UN’s humanitarian agency saying 2024 was the worst year for violence by Israeli settlers since the agency began keeping records almost 20 years ago.
Major human rights groups have described the situation as apartheid, allegations rejected by the Israeli government, which views the occupied West Bank as the historical and biblical heartland of the Jewish people and is opposed to Palestinian statehood. In 2024 however, the International court of Justice issued an advisory ruling that Israel’s occupation is illegal.
Peace Now, which favors a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of pressing ahead with settlement construction while dozens of Israeli captives held in Gaza following in Hamas 7 October 2023 attack languish in captivity in the enclave.
“While the people of Israel (set) their sights on the release of the hostages and an end to the war, the Netanyahu government is operating ‘on steroids’ to establish facts on the ground that will destroy the chance for peace and compromise,” it said in a statement.
