{"id":126929,"date":"2026-06-03T22:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=126929"},"modified":"2026-06-03T22:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T17:23:16","slug":"israel-plans-major-expansion-of-west-bank-settlements-on-occupied-palestinian-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel plans major expansion of West Bank settlements on occupied Palestinian land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)- Israel\u2019s hardline finance minister announced on Wednesday a major expansion by more than 2,000 homes of three Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank that Palestinians hope will be part of a future independent state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most nations consider Israeli settlements there to be illegal under international law and a major obstacle to a two-state solution for long-term peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bezalel Smotrich, who holds authority over parts of Israel\u2019s civilian administration in the West Bank, said a planning committee approved the construction of 2,162 new Jewish homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They include 1,006 units in a new settlement near Jerusalem, 922 near the Palestinian city of Nablus and 234 near Hebron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are continuing to build the Land of Israel in practice,\u201d said Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1916423\">sanctioned by Britain, France and others<\/a>&nbsp;who accuse him of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1908943\">inciting violence against Palestinians<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smotrich has denounced the sanctions against him, saying the measures would not change Israeli policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new homes would \u201cstrengthen our hold on the land, reinforce Israel\u2019s security, and establish clear facts on the ground that prevent the creation of an Arab terror state in the heart of the country,\u201d Smotrich said in a statement, without specifying when construction would begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since becoming a minister three years ago, Smotrich has sought to tighten Israel\u2019s control and presence in the West Bank while advocating against the idea of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing government has overseen the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1983226\">significant expansion of Jewish settlements<\/a>&nbsp;in the West Bank and the establishment of new settlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2004930\/israel-plans-major-expansion-of-west-bank-settlements-on-occupied-palestinian-land#independence-aspirations\"><\/a>Independence aspirations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state that includes East Jerusalem and Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around half a million Israelis live in the West Bank among about three million Palestinians. US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has been far less critical of the fast-expanding Israeli settlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Trump did say last September that he would&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1950906\">not allow<\/a>&nbsp;Israel to annex the West Bank, angering some right-wing Israeli lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United Arab Emirates, one of the few Arab states to have official ties with Israel, has also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1563064\">publicly warned<\/a>&nbsp;the Israeli government against annexation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Condemning Wednesday\u2019s announcement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas\u2019 office warned that Israel\u2019s \u201cprovocative\u201d policies were pushing the region towards more rounds of violence and called on the US to stop the Israeli \u201cmadness\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smotrich on May 19 said he would wage \u201cwar\u201d on the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited civic rule in the West Bank, after he said he was told the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor had sought a confidential&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1931272\">arrest warrant<\/a>&nbsp;against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ICC has not confirmed that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- Israel\u2019s hardline finance minister announced on Wednesday a major expansion by more than 2,000 homes of three Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank that Palestinians hope will be part of a future independent state. Most nations consider Israeli settlements there to be illegal under international law and a major obstacle to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Israel plans major expansion of West Bank settlements on occupied Palestinian land - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel plans major expansion of West Bank settlements on occupied Palestinian land - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web desk(National Times)- Israel\u2019s hardline finance minister announced on Wednesday a major expansion by more than 2,000 homes of three Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank that Palestinians hope will be part of a future independent state. Most nations consider Israeli settlements there to be illegal under international law and a major obstacle to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T17:23:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T17:23:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-11-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/\",\"name\":\"Israel plans major expansion of West Bank settlements on occupied Palestinian land - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-11-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-03T17:23:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-03T17:23:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-11-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Untitled-design-11-1.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Israel plans major expansion of West Bank settlements on occupied Palestinian land\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israel plans major expansion of West Bank settlements on occupied Palestinian land - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126929\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israel plans major expansion of West Bank settlements on occupied Palestinian land - Nation","og_description":"Web desk(National Times)- Israel\u2019s hardline finance minister announced on Wednesday a major expansion by more than 2,000 homes of three Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank that Palestinians hope will be part of a future independent state. 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