The United Nations human rights office has condemned Israel’s plan to build thousands of new homes between an existing settlement in the West Bank and near East Jerusalem, calling it illegal under international law and warning it could force Palestinians from their homes—a move it described as a war crime.
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Thursday that he would push forward with the long-delayed project, saying it would “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
A UN spokesperson said the plan would fragment the West Bank into isolated enclaves and reiterated that “it is a war crime for an occupying power to transfer its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Around 700,000 Israeli settlers currently live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980—an act not recognized by most countries—and has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank.
Most world powers say settlement expansion undermines the viability of a two-state solution, which envisions a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza living alongside Israel. Israel maintains the West Bank is “disputed,” not “occupied,” citing historical and biblical ties as well as strategic and security considerations.
