HEBRON: In a clear challenge to international laws, Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel called on Monday for expanding illegal colonies in the occupied West Bank.

Arbel, a member of the religious Shas party, said in a statement while he was in the illegal colony of the Gush Etzion, built on citizens’ land in the southern West Bank, “Now, specifically, when we are dealing with security challenges, we must act more forcefully in favor of the colonies in the West Bank.”

He added, “We must work to strengthen, develop and deepen the roots inside colonies”.

The right-wing Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has escalated colony expansion in the West Bank since assuming its duties at the end of 2022.

According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, the occupation government discussed during the first half of 2024, a total of 83 master plans to expand colonies or establish new ones, including 39 plans in the West Bank and 44 in Jerusalem.

During the same period, Israeli colonist establish
ed 17 colony outposts on residents’ lands, most of which are pastoral outposts in the West Bank, and the occupation authorities legalized 11 colony outposts.

During the first half of this year, the occupation authorities also seized more than 26,000 dunams of citizens’ lands under various names.

According to international law, Israeli colonies built on Palestinian lands in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal.

On September 18, the United Nations General Assembly voted by majority vote on a Palestinian draft resolution demanding that Israel, the occupying power, end its ‘illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory’ within 12 months, based on an advisory opinion requested by the General Assembly from the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of Israel’s policies and practices in Palestine.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA