'Israel' to approve 4,000 illegal settlement units in West Bank

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The Israeli occupation is set to approve next week the planning and building of some 4,000 settlement units in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli ministry of security announced Friday.

"Tel Aviv's" announcement comes in light of preparations for a trip by US President Joe Biden to the occupied land set to take place in late June amid calls on his administration to curb the Israeli expansionism and treading onto more Palestinian land.

The Israeli occupation is taking this specific aggressive step, which comes as part of a series of aggressive acts, due to an ultimatum by a Yamina lawmaker, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's party, who threatened to leave the fragile coalition if the expansion was not approved.

A planning committee of the occupation's, charged with approving new buildings in the settlements, will be convening next week, the ministry added.

The committee will likely give permits for the building of 2,500 new settlement units in the occupied territories and move forward with the initial planning of another 1,500.

The Israeli occupation's interior minister, Ayelet Shaked, who is notorious for her support of settlements, confirmed on Twitter that the committee would convene and went on to boldly say that construction in the occupied West Bank was "a basic, required, and obvious thing." 

The occupation has been using the argument that a government collapse would be imminent if "Tel Aviv" did not approve new settlements to push forward its expansionist agenda in front of the United States.

A senior Israeli official said the Israeli Prime Minister's office and the Ministry of Security had held talks with the US ambassador to "Israel", Tom Nides, and several Biden Administration officials over the course of the last two weeks about the further violations of the rights of Palestinians.

The government collapse has been attributed to the fragility of the coalition formed between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, which would allegedly take a severe hit if "Tel Aviv" does not approve the expansion. The duo had collaborated in mid-2021 to topple former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

According to Nides' assertions to Axios, officials in the Biden administration had "made it clear to the Israeli government that the administration is opposed to new building in the settlements and asked it not to move ahead with it."

Several sources familiar with the matter also told the outlet that the Israeli government, pushed by pressure from the Biden administration, had decided to reduce the number of approved settlement units from 5,800 to 4,000. However, a smaller number still constitutes a violation of the rights of Palestinians, a drop in the sea of those committed by Israelis.

A senior Israeli official revealed that the timing of the announcement and the committee's session were decided with the intention of giving the Israelis the biggest margin of time possible before Biden's visit.

According to the official, the government wanted to make the announcement earlier in the week, but it refrained from doing so due to a visit by the White House team preparing for Biden.

The announcement was met with condemnation from Palestine, with the Palestinian Foreign Ministry calling it a violation of international law, and it called on the Biden administration to pressure the Israeli occupation to curb the expansion.

For the plan to become a morbid reality for Palestinians, Israeli occupation Security Minister Benny Gantz must approve it, and his lack of approval has been met with heavy criticism from the representatives of the settlements, accusing him of "playing politics" at their expense.

"The Biden administration strongly opposes the expansion of Israeli settlements, which exacerbates tensions and undermines trust between the parties. Israel's program of expanding settlements deeply damages the prospects for a two-state solution," State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter claimed on Friday.

Yesha Council Chairman David Elhayani claimed there was a "growing need" for settlements as the Israeli settlers increase in occupied Palestine in a bid to eradicate the Arabhood of the country. 

This comes as about half a million Israeli settlers live in the occupied Palestinian territories, with many more even wanting to move there, Elhayani added, not taking into consideration the rights and needs of the Palestinians as they uproot them from their lands. 

Last month, "Israel" decided to "delay" the approval of building 4,000 settlements in the West Bank - and with the worsening security situation in occupied Palestine, the Israelis are being cautious with such provocations.