Israel's far-right cabinet 'legalizes' nine settler outposts amid Palestinians' outrage

The Israeli regime's far-right cabinet has decided to "legalize" nine settler outposts in the occupied West Bank in sheer defiance of the outcry from the international community and Palestinians who want an end to the regime's settlement projects.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's extremist cabinet announced the decision on Sunday, retroactively authorizing the outposts that had been already set up by Israeli settlers over the past years without the regime's so-called approval.

The retroactive authorization of the outposts marks the first such step to be taken by the Israel's new cabinet, which took over in late December featuring a combination of hard-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.

The Israeli premier has described expansion of the regime's settlements as his cabinet's top priority in order to buy the extremist parties' loyalty.

However, the international community, views the settlements -- hundreds of which have been built across the West Bank since Tel Aviv's occupation of the territory in 1967 -- as illegal due to their construction on the occupied territories.

Also on Sunday, a statement from Netanyahu's office said a planning committee was to convene in the coming days to approve new settler units and mass-construction of more units within the existing settlements.

Israeli settler population exceeds half a million in occupied West Bank

According to a report, the population of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank has surpassed 500,000.

Far-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, put the number of the units at a whopping 10,000.

"Israel's decision leads to further tension and escalation"

Reacting to the Israeli cabinet's decision, Nabil Abu Rudainah, the spokesman for the Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the move as a provocation and a recipe for further tension and escalation, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

He also denounced the regime's plans to staggeringly increase the number of the settler units.

"The presidential spokesman stressed that all unilateral measures are rejected in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy and bilateral agreements," Wafa reported.

Abu Rudainah also stressed the illegality of all Israeli settlements as they violate international law and UN Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2334.

Israel minister vows unabated continuation of regime's settlement activities

Israeli regime minister vows unabated continuation of the regime

"Legalizing settlement outposts dangerous escalation"

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates also weighed in on the issue in a statement, stressing that the Israeli cabinet's decision amounted to "a dangerous escalation."

It added that the move was also a "total and open war" against the Palestinian people, the occupied city of al-Quds and its residents, and other holy sites.

The ministry added in its statement that such decisions "cross all red lines," calling for international efforts to stop the implementation of these decisions.

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