Record Surge Reported in Israeli Settlement Plans in West Bank
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The anti-settlement organization Peace Now has revealed that the far-right cabinet led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed forward an unprecedented number of illegal units in settlements within the occupied West Bank during the first six months of this year.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Israeli human rights group stated that the Tel Aviv regime has advanced 12,855 settler housing units across the West Bank since January. This figure marks the highest recorded number since Peace Now began tracking such activities in 2012.
"In the past six months, the only sector that Israel has vigorously promoted is the settlement enterprise," Peace Now stated in its release.
The statement was issued on the same day that four Palestinians were injured, two of them seriously, in an attack by extremist Israeli settlers near the town of Kafr Thulth, situated 28 kilometers (17 miles) south of Tulkarm.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, a group of settlers from the illegal settlement of Karnie Shomron assaulted the Palestinian Bedouin community of Arab al-Kholi, pelting residents with stones and causing injuries to four Palestinians. The settlers also set fire to a stall within the community.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that the injured Palestinians were admitted to Qalqilya Public Hospital as a result of the attack, with two individuals in critical condition due to skull fractures and facial lacerations.
Over 700,000 Israelis reside in more than 279 settlements constructed since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem). Despite being deemed illegal under international law, the occupying regime has intensified settlement expansion, blatantly disregarding United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The Palestinians aspire to have the West Bank as part of a future independent state, with East al-Quds as its capital. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014, with one of the main obstacles being Israel's persistent illegal settlement expansion.