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Israel's security cabinet has formally approved the formalization of nineteen new communities in the occupied West Bank, representing a ongoing drive for community development.

Far-right Treasury Chief Bezalel Smotrich, a settler who proposed the move together with Defence Minister Israel Katz, declared that the move was about blocking the establishment of a sovereign Palestine.

According to global statutes, Jewish communities in the occupied West Bank are viewed as in violation of international law.

The decision has sparked censure from Saudi Arabia. The United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said that Israel's "unceasing" settlement expansion exacerbates tensions, restricts Palestinian use of territory, and threatens the prospects of a sovereign Palestine.

Rising Tensions and Diplomatic Fallout

Clashes in the occupied West Bank has escalated since the hostilities in Gaza started in October 2023, intensifying concerns that settlement expansion could deepen Israel's occupation and undermine the prospects for a two-state solution.

The concept of two states refers to the formation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem's eastern sector as its capital, largely along the boundaries that existed prior to the 1967 Six-Day Middle East war.

Since coming to power in late 2022, the incumbent Israeli government has greatly accelerated the approval of new settlements and initiated the legalisation process for unauthorised outposts, designating them as "neighbourhoods" of existing communities.

A Pattern of Growth

The latest decision takes the cumulative figure of communities authorized over the preceding 36 months to 69, per the figures from Smotrich.

These authorizations come a short time after the United Nations stated that construction in settlements had attained its highest level since the year 2017.

The most recent group of approvals includes the revival of a pair of settlements — Ganim and Kadim — which were dismantled nearly 20 years ago.

Previously, Israel gave the nod to 22 additional communities in the territories - labeled as the biggest wave of approvals in many years.

In a related development, the Israeli government gave the go-ahead for blueprints last summer to construct in excess of three thousand residences in the controversial E1 project between the capital and the Maale Adumim community, a project that had been on hold for many years amid intense foreign objection.

Regarding that plan, Smotrich said it would "put to rest the concept of a Palestinian state."

Demographic Realities and Global Reactions

An estimated seven hundred thousand settlers reside in about one hundred and sixty settlements in the occupied territories, as per data from the Israel-based monitoring organization Peace Now. This is land that the Palestinian people seek for a prospective sovereign nation.

Settlement expansion has angered Arab states who have repeatedly argued it harms chances for a two-state solution.

It has furthermore sparked fears about the potential incorporation of the occupied West Bank.

Former American President Donald Trump had once cautioned the Israeli leadership about this step, telling a publication that the country would forfeit its backing from the US if it proceeded.

Recently, the United Kingdom - joined by other nations such as Australia and Canada - recognised a State of Palestine, a significant although largely symbolic change in government policy.

Israel opposed this recognition, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that a Palestinian state "is not going to occur."