The far-right Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, considered that promoting agricultural projects in the West Bank represents a strategic goal to erase the Green Line, which symbolizes the 1967 borders.

Smotrich said during his visit to one of the settlement outposts, today, Sunday, that the West Bank farms are considered a "strategic target to preserve the land and prevent its seizure."

The Israeli minister stressed that agricultural projects are a means of "preventing the Palestinians from expanding their illegal control over the lands," he said.

Smotrich considers the West Bank - including East Jerusalem - to be part of Israel and makes no secret of his strong opposition to the two-state solution.

The extremist Israeli minister pledged to take full control of the West Bank by 2025, under the name of the "Imposing Israeli Sovereignty" plan.

On November 12, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to include the issue of annexing the West Bank on his government’s agenda, after US President-elect Donald Trump takes office next January.

In contrast, the International Court of Justice stressed last July that the Palestinians have the right to self-determination, and that Israeli settlements on occupied territory must be evacuated.

Last week, the Israeli organization Peace Now, which opposes settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, revealed that Israeli settlers had established 7 settlement outposts this year in Area B, which is under Palestinian civilian control in the occupied West Bank.

According to Peace Now estimates, more than half a million settlers live in 147 settlements and 224 outposts in the West Bank, while more than 240,000 others live in 15 settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

A settlement is one that is established with the approval of the Israeli government, while outposts are established by settlers without the approval of the government.

The international community demands that Israel withdraw to the borders it occupied on June 4, 1967, to establish a Palestinian state.

In recent months, Israeli government ministers, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, have been speaking openly about Tel Aviv's intention to annex the occupied West Bank.

The fierce settlement attack on the West Bank comes at a time when Israel, with American support, has been waging a war of genocide in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and is intensifying its attacks on Palestinians and their sources of livelihood in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.