Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank reaches record levels in 2023

Jerusalem – AFP

Israel recorded a record expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank in 2023, the largest since the signing of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, according to a report released on Friday by the European Union delegation to the Palestinian territories.

The group posted on the “X” platform and predicted: “Due to recent developments, the situation will worsen in 2024.” According to reports, Israeli authorities have issued permits for the construction of 12,349 homes in the West Bank, a number that has never been reached since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

In East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967, permits were granted for the construction of 18,333 housing units.

According to the EU, a total of 30,000 settlement homes have been approved in the West Bank and 682 in East Jerusalem by 2023, the highest number of permits issued in a single year since 2012.

The report notes the impact of these projects on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “based on Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine.”

The EU has reportedly repeatedly asked Israel not to continue its settlement projects and to cease all such activities.

Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal under international law but has continued under successive Israeli governments since 1967. Far-right parties in Israel’s ruling coalition are currently pushing for accelerated settlement expansion.

About 490,000 settlers live in the West Bank, which is home to about 3 million Palestinians. There are also haphazard settlements in the West Bank, meaning they were built without permission.

The report said 26 informal settlements would be established by 2023, the highest number since 1991, and indicated the Israeli government intends to legislate for 15 of them.

Violence in the West Bank is escalating, especially since Israel launched a war against Gaza on October 7. At least 594 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bullets in the West Bank, and 17 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed.