Reporting of Federici Studies Center
New settlements in the West Bank and recognition of the Golan: Israel defies international law
Israel to revive extensive Jewish construction projects in West Bank. The super hawk Avigdor Lieberman anticipated it on Twitter, Defense Minister of the government chaired by Netanyahu. “Next week – he wrote – we will submit to the Superior Council for planning in Judea-Samaria (West Bank) plans for the construction of 2.500 accommodation, 1.400 of which to be implemented immediately". “We will extend construction throughout Judea-Samaria – he added – from North to South, in small and large settlements”.
Israel militarily occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the war 1967 and has since built dozens of settlements in a territory that according to international law belongs to what should become the State of Palestine, an area that the UN recognizes as "occupied territories".
Since the beginning of the Trump administration, Israel has stepped up, according to reports presented by some NGOs, the construction of new homes and new settlements in the occupied territories, a sign that the presence of a friendly government like the American one has created the conditions for Israel from an international point of view to implement a new phase of building expansion.
Israel's expansionist policy does not stop here. The new goal is recognition by the United States, after Jerusalem the capital, of the Golan Heights, illegitimately occupied and taken from Syria. An idea that comes directly from the Israeli Minister of Intelligence, Yisrael Katz, who underlined that in bilateral talks with Washington "at the top of the agenda" is the recognition by the United States of the unilateral annexation of the Golan Heights by the Jewish State.
“This is the perfect time to make such a move”, said the minister. A justified step to counter Tehran: “The most painful response that can be given to the Iranians is to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan”. “I think there is great maturity and a high probability that this will happen”, added the minister, according to which recognition could take place "within a few months". The White House has not yet commented on Katz's remarks.
