Overview

• On May 29, Israel’s security cabinet, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, approved the establishment of 22 new West Bank settlements.
• Two of the planned communities, Homesh and Sa-Nur, will restore settlements evacuated in 2005 under Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan.
• Most states and international bodies, including the United Nations and European Union, deem all settlements in occupied territories illegal and condemned the announcement.
• The initiative also legalizes dozens of unauthorized outposts that had been built without government approval.
• More than 490,000 Israeli settlers now live in West Bank settlements alongside nearly three million Palestinians under military occupation.