Israel scuttling two-state solution with Zionist settlement expansion — NGO

The Israeli regime has approved plans to build nearly 5,300 new homes in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to a monitoring group, telling TRT World that Tel Aviv's actions jeopardise the two-state solution supported by Palestinians and the global community.

We "believe the settlements are one of the main obstacles to peace based on the two-state solution," Yonatan Mizrahi, head of the settlement watch at Peace Now, told TRT World.

Peace Now is a non-governmental organisation and activist group in Israel that promotes a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

"The future Palestinian state needs land and continuity. The illegal settlements around the West Bank make this option much more difficult," Mizrahi added.

Israel's turbocharged settlement drive threatens to further stoke tensions in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli violence since its war on besieged Gaza has killed more than 530 Palestinians.

Mizrahi said the latest announcement to accelerate illegal settlement expansion is aimed to prevent the possibility of a fully liberated Palestine.

Mizrahi said that his watchdog is trying to push the two-state solution which is in Israeli interest and peace in the region.

"Our steps are submitting objections to some of the plans, alerting the Israeli and international policymakers, campaigns for a two-state solution as an Israeli interest, and court petitions against the illegal plans of the settlers in the West Bank," Mizrahi explained.

Later, in a statement, Peace Now denounced Israel's approval of the new illegal units and settlement posts.

"Netanyahu and Smotrich's agenda became evident through the decisions of the Planning Council: approval for thousands of housing units, the establishment of three new settlements, and strategic appointments of Smotrich’s allies in key roles instead of military personnel underscore the annexation occurring in the West Bank," the statement said.

"Our government continues to change the rules of the game in the occupied West Bank, leading to irreversible harm. While the north is neglected and citizens across the country are abandoned, with 120 hostages still in Gaza, the process of annexation and land theft continues to expand, contrary to Israeli interests," it added.

"This annexationist government severely undermines the security and future of both Israelis and Palestinians, and the cost of this recklessness will be paid for generations to come. We must bring down the government before it's too late."

Peace Now has warned of "disaster" for Israel and the region if the construction is carried out amidst the war on besieged Gaza, saying that Netanyahu regime's goal is "dismantling of any possibility for a political solution between Israelis and Palestinians."

Zionist settlements in Palestine

The United States and most of the international community consider Zionist settlements to be illegal or obstacles to peace, and past settlement announcements have drawn angry condemnations from the US. But Washington has failed to stop Israel, its ally, from expanding illegal settlements while arming Tel Aviv to the teeth against Palestine.

The current Israeli regime is dominated by settler bosses and their far-right allies, who have armed civilian Zionists in West Bank as well as in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israel war.

Tel Aviv has built well over 100 illegal settlements across the West Bank where over 500,000 Zionists live in small cities and towns. Around 200,000 illegal settlers also live in occupied East Jerusalem.

The three million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank live under brutal Israeli military rule. The Palestinian Authority has a token presence in enclaves scattered across the territory and is barred from operating in 60 percent of the West Bank.