Occupied Quds - Saba:
The "Israeli" Peace Now Movement, which opposes settlements, said on Tuesday that the Supreme Planning Council in the Civil Administration (an entity affiliated with the occupation army responsible for civil affairs), will discuss tomorrow, Wednesday, a plan to build (1408) settlement units in a number of settlements established on Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank.
The Quds Press Agency quoted the Movement as saying that since the beginning of December 2024, the Supreme Planning Council holds weekly discussions to approve the construction of more settlement units in the settlements.
According to "Peace Now", the discussion, which aims to advance the construction of (1408) settlement units, is a record number of settlement units approved since the shift to weekly discussions.
The Movement stated that among the plans that will be promoted are 460 settlement units in the settlement of (Talmon) northwest of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, and 225 housing units in the settlement of Beit Hagai south of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.
The move towards approving plans on a weekly basis not only leads to the normalization of settlement construction in the occupied territories, but also to its intensification, it added.
Peace Now said since the beginning of 2025, and with the plans scheduled to be approved tomorrow, Wednesday, the Supreme Planning Council has submitted plans to build 7702 settlement units within two months and one week.
The movement noted that one of the changes made by the Netanyahu-Smotrich government in June 2023 was to cancel the need for the approval of the Minister of Defense for each stage of advancing plans in the settlements.
Until this decision was issued, any progress in the construction plan in the settlements required prior approval from the Minister of Defense.
It pointed out that in recent years, the Minister of Defense of the occupation decided that the plans in the settlements would only be presented about four times a year, and thus in each meeting of the Supreme Planning Council, thousands of settlement units were approved at once.
The movement said: In recent weeks we have witnessed a change where the Supreme Planning Council meets every two weeks and in each meeting approves the construction of hundreds of settlement units, adding that in this way the occupation government seeks to normalize planning in the settlements and attract less public and international attention and criticism.
The international community, including most member states of the United Nations and the European Union, considers the "Israeli" settlements in the West Bank illegal and a violation of international law.
UN resolutions of 1979 and 2016 confirmed the illegality of the settlements.
Last July, the International Court of Justice issued a significant advisory opinion, confirming that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories violates international law.
The Court stated that "Israel" is obligated to stop settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Quds, and to end its "illegal" occupation of those areas, in addition to the Gaza Strip, as soon as possible.
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