LONDON: Israeli authorities have approved a budget of 1.075 billion shekels ($355 million) for road construction to serve dozens of new settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The money, spread over three years, will be used to build new and upgrade existing access roads to settlements, and develop connecting sections outside of settlement boundaries. Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank are among the settlements that will benefit from the project, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
The far-right Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved plans to establish 103 settlements and 160 agricultural and pastoral outposts in the West Bank since 2023.
On Tuesday, authorities allocated a budget of 1.3 billion shekels ($430 million) to build 34 new settlements. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the government’s latest decision as “historic.”
There are already 279 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 14 in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967. Almost 737,000 settlers live in those settlements, among 3.43 million Palestinians.
Many UN member states have long condemned Israel for its settlement activity and expansions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are widely considered to be illegal under international law and a hindrance to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution.
