Israel approves new illegal settlement on UNESCO site near Bethlehem
Al Jazeera
The Nahal Heletz settlement shrinks Palestinian land and poses ‘imminent threat’ to a World Heritage Site.
Israel has approved a new illegal settlement on a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
Bezalel Smotrich, the country’s far-right finance minister, said on Wednesday his office had “completed its work and published a plan for the new Nahal Heletz settlement in Gush Etzion”, a bloc of illegal settlements south of Jerusalem.
“No anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the development of settlements,” said Smotrich, who also heads civil affairs at the Ministry of Defence, on X. “We will continue to fight against the dangerous project of creating a Palestinian state by creating facts on the ground.”
All of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, occupied since 1967 and inhabited by some 700,000 Israeli settlers – including occupied East Jerusalem – are considered illegal under international law, regardless of whether they have Israeli planning permission.
Reporting from Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said Smotrich “is flexing his muscles, telling the world that he cares very, very little about international law”.
