News / Palestine

Israel to ‘double’ number of settlers in al-Khalil with new project

Sunday, 01 December 2019 2:29 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 01 December 2019 2:55 PM ]

A picture taken on December 1, 2019 shows the settlement of Negohot (R), located near the Palestinian village of Beit Awwa (L), in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (By AFP)

Israel has announced a controversial plan to construct a new settlement in the heart of the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) that will purportedly accommodate as many settlers as are currently housed in the city.

Israel’s Minister for Military Affairs Naftali Bennett announced the decision on Sunday, saying he had ordered officials to notify the al-Khalil municipality of the decision to build the new Israeli settlement, which is planned to be constructed in a wholesale market complex.

The planned project will “double” the number of Israeli settlers in the city, Bennett said.

Al-Khalil (Hebron) is a flashpoint of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers.

Hundreds of Israeli settlers, backed by tens of thousands of soldiers, occupy significant parts of the city center.

An Israeli settler looks over his flock as they feed in the West Bank village of Beit Awwa, southwest of al-Khalil (Hebron), on December 1, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

The Israeli settlers and forces harass the Palestinians in the city on an almost daily basis.

The announcement comes at a time of political turmoil in Israel, after general elections in April and September that ended in a deadlock. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main opponent has managed to secure a parliamentary majority.

Bennett’s New Right party is leaning heavily on settlers for support at the polls, as the prospects of a third snap election looms large.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions. Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, in December 2016, the Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem” al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

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