Latest news with #IsraeliSettlements
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Canada calls on Israel to abandon plans for new West Bank settlements
A young Israeli settler walks to a bus stop outside of the West Bank settlement of Bruchin on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) OTTAWA — Canada is calling on Israel to abandon plans unveiled Thursday to authorize 22 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank which it says would be illegal. Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Arab–Israeli war and the Palestinians want all three territories for a future state. Global Affairs Canada says the proposed new settlements 'violate international law and undermine prospects for lasting peace and security via the two-state solution.' The Thursday decision would cover new settlements and legalize outposts already built without government authorization. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that the decision 'constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism,' while a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the decision a 'dangerous escalation' that could trigger more violence. Canada joined the U.K. and France this month in threatening to impose targeted sanctions against Israeli officials if they continue to expand settlements in the West Bank. Ottawa has repeatedly condemned mounting violence in the West Bank since a deadly October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel prompted months of bombardment of the Gaza Strip. — With files from The Associated Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 days ago
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Minister Says 'We Will Build Jewish Israeli State' in West Bank
Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Friday to build a "Jewish Israeli state" in the occupied West Bank, a day after the government announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the Palestinian territory. Israeli settlements in the West Bank, seen as a major obstacle to lasting peace, are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law, and Thursday's announcement drew sharp foreign criticism. "This is a decisive response to the terrorist organizations that are trying to harm and weaken our hold on this land -- and it is also a clear message to (French President Emmanuel) Macron and his associates: they will recognize a Palestinian state on paper -- but we will build the Jewish Israeli state here on the ground," Katz was quoted as saying Friday in a statement from his office. "The paper will be thrown into the trash bin of history, and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper." Katz was speaking during a visit to the Sa-Nur settlement outpost in the northern West Bank. Sa-Nur was evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel's disengagement from Gaza, promoted by then prime minister Ariel Sharon. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. During a visit to Singapore on Friday, French President Macron asserted that recognition of a Palestinian state, with some conditions, was "not only a moral duty, but a political necessity". An international conference meant to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is set to take place in June at the UN headquarters in New York. A diplomat in Paris close to preparations for the conference said it should pave the way for more countries to recognize a Palestinian state. Macron said in April that France could recognize a Palestinian state in June. Following Israel's announcement of the new settlements on Thursday, Britain called the move a "deliberate obstacle" to Palestinian statehood, while UN chief Antonio Guterres's spokesman said it pushed efforts towards a two-state solution "in the wrong direction".
Arab News
3 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Israel minister says ‘we will build Jewish Israeli state' in West Bank
JERUSALEM: Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Friday to build a 'Jewish Israeli state' in the occupied West Bank, a day after the government announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the Palestinian territory. Israeli settlements in the West Bank, seen as a major obstacle to lasting peace, are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law, and Thursday's announcement drew sharp foreign criticism. 'This is a decisive response to the terrorist organizations that are trying to harm and weaken our hold on this land — and it is also a clear message to (French President Emmanuel) Macron and his associates: they will recognize a Palestinian state on paper — but we will build the Jewish Israeli state here on the ground,' Katz was quoted as saying Friday in a statement from his office. 'The paper will be thrown into the trash bin of history, and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper.' Katz was speaking during a visit to the Sa-Nur settlement outpost in the northern West Bank. Sa-Nur was evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel's disengagement from Gaza, promoted by then prime minister Ariel Sharon. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. During a visit to Singapore on Friday, French President Macron asserted that recognition of a Palestinian state, with some conditions, was 'not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.' An international conference meant to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is set to take place in June at the UN headquarters in New York. A diplomat in Paris close to preparations for the conference said it should pave the way for more countries to recognize a Palestinian state. Macron said in April that France could recognize a Palestinian state in June. Following Israel's announcement of the new settlements on Thursday, Britain called the move a 'deliberate obstacle' to Palestinian statehood, while UN chief Antonio Guterres's spokesman said it pushed efforts toward a two-state solution 'in the wrong direction.'
CBS News
3 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Israel authorizes more settlements in occupied West Bank, sparking criticism as obstacle to Palestinian statehood
Israeli settlements, and the expanding divide of settlers and Palestinians Israeli settlements, and the expanding divide of settlers and Palestinians Israeli settlements, and the expanding divide of settlers and Palestinians Israel said Thursday it would establish 22 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalization of outposts already built without government authorization. Neighboring Jordan and Britain slammed the move, with a top U.K. official calling it a "deliberate obstacle" to Palestinian statehood. Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. The majority of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the settlement decision "strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria," using the biblical term for the West Bank. He said it "anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism." He added that the construction of settlements was also "a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel." The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now said the announcement was the most extensive move of its kind since the 1993 Oslo accords that launched the now-defunct peace process. It said the settlements, which are deep inside the territory, would "dramatically reshape the West Bank and entrench the occupation even further." Israel has already built well over 100 settlements across the territory that are home to some 500,000 settlers. The settlements range from small hilltop outposts to fully developed communities with apartment blocks, shopping malls, factories and parks. Houses in the Israeli settlement of Psagot in the occupied West Bank, located on Tawil hill adjacent to the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and al-Bireh, are seen on May 29, 2025. Zain Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images The West Bank is home to 3 million Palestinians, who live under Israeli military rule with the Palestinian Authority administering population centers. The settlers have Israeli citizenship. Peace Now said the plans call for the authorization of 12 existing outposts, the development of nine new settlements and reclassifying a neighborhood of an existing settlement as a separate one. "The government is making clear — again and without restraint — that it prefers deepening the occupation and advancing de facto annexation over pursuing peace," the group said. Israel has accelerated settlement construction in recent years — long before Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, which ignited the war in Gaza. The settlements have confined Palestinians to smaller and smaller areas of the West Bank and made the prospect of establishing a viable, independent state even more remote. A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the move a "dangerous escalation" and accused Israel of moving the region into a "cycle of violence and instability." "This extremist Israeli government is trying by all means to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state," the spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, told the Reuters news agency. In a statement, Hamas — the group that the U.S. and Israel have designated as terrorists that controls Gaza — accused Israel of "an acceleration of efforts to Judaize Palestinian land as part of an explicit annexation project." "It constitutes a brazen challenge to international will and a grave violation of international law and United Nations resolutions," said the Palestinian militant group. Western ally Jordan also condemned the move as illegal, and said it "undermines prospects for peace by entrenching the occupation." The Jordanian foreign ministry warned that "such unilateral actions further erode the viability of a two-state solution by impeding the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state." Britain's minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, slammed the decision as a "deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood," saying settlements "imperil the two state solution, and do not protect Israel." Palestinians stand as they are blocked by Israeli soldiers from entering the Tulkarm refugee camp to remove their belongings, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 26, 2025. Reuters/Raneen Sawafta During his first term, President Trump's administration broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy by supporting Israel's claims to territory seized by force and taking steps to legitimize the settlements. Former President Joe Biden, like most of his predecessors, opposed the settlements but applied little pressure to Israel to curb their growth. The top United Nations court ruled last year that Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and called on it to end, and for settlement construction to stop immediately. Israel denounced the non-binding opinion by a 15-judge panel of the International Court of Justice, saying the territories are part of the historic homeland of the Jewish people. Israel withdrew its settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but leading figures in the current government have called for them to be re-established and for much of the Palestinian population of the territory to be resettled elsewhere through what they describe as voluntary emigration. Palestinians view such plans as a blueprint for their forcible expulsion from their homeland, and experts say the plans would likely violate international law. Israel now controls more than 70% of Gaza, according to Yaakov Garb, a professor of environmental studies at Ben Gurion University, who has examined Israeli-Palestinian land use patterns for decades. The area includes buffer zones along the border with Israel as well as the southern city of Rafah, which is now mostly uninhabited, and other large areas that Israel has ordered to be evacuated. The war began with Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, in which terrorists stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas still holds 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be still alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties. contributed to this report.
Al Arabiya
4 days ago
- Health
- Al Arabiya
Hospital says baby of Israeli woman killed in West Bank has died
The baby of an Israeli woman killed by a Palestinian gunman in the occupied West Bank two weeks ago has died, the hospital treating the newborn said Thursday. On May 14, Tzeela Gez was on her way from her home in the West Bank settlement of Bruchin to a Tel Aviv hospital to give birth when the gunman opened fire on the vehicle she was travelling in with her husband. Gez, 37, died of her wounds, while her baby was delivered by emergency caesarean section, the hospital that treated them said. But on Thursday, Schneider Children's Medical Center announced 'with regret that last night the baby Ravid Chaim, who was born after the terror attack in Samaria (the northern West Bank) about two weeks ago in which his mother, Tzeela Gez, of blessed memory, was murdered, has passed away.' Ravid had been in 'serious condition in the neonatal intensive care unit', where doctors had 'fought for his life', the hospital added. 'Unfortunately, despite the many efforts, the hospital was forced in recent hours to declare his death.' The Israeli military said last week that the shooter had been identified and 'eliminated' following a manhunt in the West Bank. Like all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, Bruchin is considered illegal under international law. 'There are no words that can console the murder of a newborn infant together with his mother,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. 'The heroism of the pioneering settlers in Judea and Samaria and their self-sacrifice are what will defeat all our enemies.' Israel's far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir called the attack a reminder of 'the need for a decisive response against a cruel enemy who kills mothers and children as a pastime.' Denouncing the deaths, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, called for 'construction and more construction in memory of Ravid and Tzeela.' Earlier on Thursday, Israel announced that the security cabinet had approved the creation of 22 new settlements in the West Bank.
