Israel’s Finance Minister Anciller Smotrich has announced that he will legalize five new settler settlements in the West Bank. In addition to being contrary to international law, they have so far been illegal under Israeli law, although they have been under the control of Zionist settlers for years, one of them since 2002. Smotrich has said that the measure responds to the declaration by several countries that the Palestinian state has been recognised, but it responds to old aspirations for annexation from the West Bank. Smotrich himself has on several occasions expressed his intention to subdue the West Bank and Gaza and to expel all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, they have also agreed to withdraw power from the Palestinian National Authority, by applying Israeli law in various areas that were previously under the administration of bread, and have taken away the executive power from the Palestinian authority in eastern Bethlehem and south-east Jerusalem.

The five colonies are built on ‘Israeli’ isolated lands inside the West Bank. These are called “pioneers”, who are opening the way for the new Zionist settlers. The five that will be legalized are remote from other colonies, located near the Palestinian areas of Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron, in areas that violate the Oslo agreement. In all cases the colonies have been built by stealing land owned by the Palestinians, often intentionally selected to isolate the Palestinian peoples and hinder the links of the roads within the West Bank.

"We announced a month ago that we would establish a settlement for each state in which the State of Palestine is unilaterally recognized as such. Five are the countries that have made this mistake, so we will implement five colonies, which will have the name of each of the countries that have recognised Palestine. That is our answer. The Palestinian State threatens the existence of the State of Israel, so it will never apply. It is a step forward, we will bring here a million settlers, that is, the answer we give to the enemy.” This has been announced by the Israeli Finance Minister, Smotrich, in an institutional statement in which the head of the cabinet, Yossi Fuchs, has accepted the decision, although Netanyahu has not yet officially pronounced himself.

With these measures, the Zionists are gradually annexing the West Bank, creating more colonies in the occupied territories. The settlements of West Bank settlers are considered internationally illegal and many of them are illegal under Israeli law. However, the Government accepts them, and many of the illegal colonies have subsequently been legalized, declaring them as part of the State, and has made available to them water, electricity, construction permits and financing.

Colonies against international law

Since 1967, 130 colonies have been built with the permission of the Government of Israel. In addition, since 1990, 100 illegal “pioneering” sites have been built, some of which have been legalized by Israel. Netanyahu accelerated last year the legalization of the new settlements and commissioned his minister, Smotrich, to manage the German colonies in Gaza.

The UN General Assembly, the Security Council itself and the International Court of Justice have repeatedly agreed that Israeli colonies violate the Fourth Geneva Convention. It prohibits the occupying force from moving its inhabitants towards occupied lands. The International Criminal Court regards these acts as war crimes.

Reduction of powers to the Palestinian National Authority

The Palestinian authority has been stripped of its administrative power in 25 per cent of the occupied West Bank, in an area of 440 Palestinian localities, and transferred power to the Colonial Administration, which controls Smotrich. It is now Israel that governs matters relating to construction and territorial planning, although until now the power of the PAN was limited.

The representatives of the Finance Minister have assured that, "in exchange" for legalizing the five colonies and removing administrative power, Smotrich will "release" some tax revenues from the Palestinian National Authority (ANP). In fact, much of the Pan’s tax collection is managed by Israel and subsequently transferred to the organization headed by Mahmud Abbas. Since 7 October, most of these tax levies have been frozen by Israel, with the aim of easing the Palestinians economically.

40 raids a day in the West Bank

It has been almost nine months since Israel launched its last offensive and, in addition to the destruction of Gaza, the Zionist army has exerted constant pressure and violence against the Palestinians in the West Bank. At least 533 Palestinians have died, 137 of them children, and over 5,300 have been injured in various ways. Hundreds of raids have been carried out in cities and towns in the West Bank, where thousands of Palestinians have been detained in recent months, according to sources in Gaza.

Among the actions taken to worsen the living conditions of the inhabitants of the West Bank, Palestinian journalist Nida Ibrahim stressed that, in addition to the deaths and arrests, hundreds of buildings collapsed and roads and lands with excavations were destroyed. Ibrahim has indicated that the Israeli average has recorded more than 40 raids per day throughout the day.

On the first day of July, the Israeli Army caused two deaths and several injuries in the refugee camp in Tulkarem, Belgium. Mohammed Sarham, 15, was shot dead by the Zionists when he was at the door of his house, as can be seen in a video. The Zionist settlers have also been subjected to numerous attacks, which have set fire on the Palestinian lands in two localities in Gaza. The Israeli media Haaretz has announced that the Israeli Government has tabled a law prohibiting Jewish administrative detention and, therefore, all those who carry out attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank will be protected.