"We will continue to fight against the dangerous project of creating a Palestinian state by creating facts on the ground," commented Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Wednesday, August 14, that the plan to build a new settlement on a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Israeli-occupied West Bank had been approved. Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler and in charge of Civil Affairs at the Defense Ministry, announced on X that his office had "completed its work and published a plan for the new settlement, Nahal Heletz in Gush Etzion," a bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem.

This new settlement, whose construction had been approved by the government in June along with four other settlements, is located between Gush Etzion and the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. "No anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements. We will continue to fight against the dangerous project of creating a Palestinian state by creating facts on the ground," the minister said.

"This is my life's mission and I will continue it as much as possible," he insisted, while the colonies are illegal in the eyes of international law. The Israeli anti-colonization NGO "Peace Now" denounced the authorization of construction plans on land declared public by the Israeli authorities.

2023, a record year for the advance of Israeli colonies

The Palestinian village of Battir, whose houses are to adjoin the future colony according to the NGO, is known for its agricultural terraces, its vineyards and its olives and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Smotrich continue to push for de facto annexation (of the West Bank) ... we will all pay the price,” Peace Now said in a statement.

The year 2023 marked a record for Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, with the highest number of building permits issued in 30 years, according to the European Union (EU). Building permits were granted by Israeli authorities last year for 12,349 homes in the West Bank, according to an EU report.

Israeli colonization of the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem has continued under every Israeli government since 1967. It represents the primary threat, Palestinians say, to the two-state solution, Palestinian and Israeli, neighbors. Far-right parties in Israel’s current governing coalition are pushing for faster settlement expansion.

About 490,000 settlers live in the West Bank alongside three million Palestinians. Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, violence between Palestinians on the one hand, and the Israeli army and settlers on the other, has intensified in the West Bank. At least 625 Palestinians have been killed there, some of them attackers against Israeli civilians and soldiers, according to an AFP tally, and at least 18 Israelis, including soldiers.