Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism Party has launched tours of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, as international leaders renew warnings that settlement expansion and displacement are destroying prospects for peace.
In a Hebrew-language post on X, Smotrich invited Israelis to join the tours during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
“Come, see the settlement revolution with your own eyes and feel the security it provides to the State of Israel,” he wrote.
Smotrich shared a link to a party-run website promoting the tours, listing routes through settlements and outposts built on land seized from Palestinians. He invited Israelis to visit 160 illegal outposts and 104 illegal settlements that he said had been established under the current government.
The initiative turns settlement expansion into a cause for celebration, even as world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York forcefully reiterate their condemnation of illegal Israeli settlements and renew warnings that they are destroying prospects for Palestinian statehood.
Warnings of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘annexation’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that Israeli violence, displacement and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank were “bulldozing the path to peace and raising the spectre of ethnic cleansing”.
“We cannot allow the two-state solution to disappear before our eyes,” he told the General Assembly.
Guterres said the devastating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories must not be overlooked amid the broader turmoil engulfing the Middle East.
European Council President Antonio Costa echoed those concerns at a high-level meeting on the two-state solution and a comprehensive peace plan for Gaza on the sidelines of the gathering.
“In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the two-state solution is being jeopardised on a daily basis,” Costa said on Tuesday.
“We see the images and hear the testimonies of what is happening in the West Bank daily – settler violence, impunity, displacement of whole communities, and de facto annexation. These settlements are illegal under international law.”
Trade measures by Western allies
The settlement drive is also facing concrete pushback from some of Israel’s Western allies, with Britain, Canada and France moving beyond condemnation towards targeted trade measures against illegal settlements.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned on the sidelines of the General Assembly that Israel’s endorsement of the illegal E1 settlement plan east of occupied East Jerusalem posed “a direct threat to peace”.
Carney said Canada and its allies would, “with reluctance”, implement restrictions targeting goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements, describing the move as “a pragmatic, practical action” towards “a durable peace for Israelis and Palestinians”.
The announcement follows coordinated action earlier this month by Canada and 11 European countries, including Britain and France, to introduce targeted trade measures against products originating from illegal settlements.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham similarly vowed on Tuesday not to stand by as “horrific suffering” grows and the prospect of a two-state solution “comes under attack” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Addressing the General Assembly, Burnham said Britain’s recent sanctions targeting illegal Israeli settlements recognised that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful.
The October 7 attack on Israel “does not justify the Israeli government's actions in Gaza or the West Bank”, he said, adding that “far too many people have died, including so many children”.
Western sanctions have also targeted Smotrich personally. France banned him from entering the country in July, as part of measures coordinated with Britain, Canada, Australia, Norway and New Zealand over escalating settlement activity and violence in the occupied West Bank.
France also imposed entry bans on four leaders of illegal settler organisations and 21 violent Israeli settlers.
Announcing the measures at the time, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Smotrich actively promoted annexation of the occupied West Bank, illegal new settlements, the re-colonisation of Gaza and the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority.
Retaliation over sanctions
Israel has responded to Britain’s sanctions by ordering the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said. Sources familiar with the matter said consulate diplomats were given 30 days before losing their accreditation, while British diplomats in Ramallah were told to leave within seven days.
Smotrich also lashed out at Britain over its planned ban on trade with illegal settlements, demanding the immediate expulsion of the British ambassador.
“Expel the British ambassador tonight! We will not be a trampled doormat of an antisemitic government. The British Mandate in the Land of Israel is over,” he wrote on X on September 8.
Smotrich and fellow far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also demanded sanctions against Britain and recognition of Argentine sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
Expansion on occupied land
Bezalel Smotrich, a leading advocate of annexing the occupied West Bank, has championed the settlement expansion at the centre of those international warnings.
Israel has accelerated the expansion of existing illegal settlements and the establishment of new ones across the territory, which it has occupied since 1967.
Around 750,000 Israeli settlers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 illegal settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli settlements in occupied territory are illegal under international law, but Israel has continued expanding them despite international criticism.
The occupied West Bank has seen escalating Israeli raids and arrests since October 2023, alongside increasing illegal settler attacks, movement restrictions and closures of entrances to Palestinian towns and villages.
