Overview

• The authorized sites span diverse areas of the West Bank, including strategic locations along the Jordan River and near the Jordanian border.
• Two new communities will revive former outposts at Homesh and Sa-Nur that Israel evacuated in 2005.
• Defense Minister Israel Katz said the plan secures Israel’s historical claim to Judea and Samaria and counters Palestinian terrorism.
• Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the expansion as part of a long-term strategy to extend military and civilian control over occupied territory.
• The United States, European Union and rights groups denounced the move as illegal under international law and warned it deepens obstacles to a two-state solution.