JERUSALEM, July 22 (NNN-MA’AN) – An Israeli settlement watchdog, said that, Israeli settlers have established dozens of unauthorised outposts in the West Bank, most of them constructed, after U.S. President, Donald Trump, stepped into the White House.
Peace Now, an Israeli organisation that monitors the expansion of settlements, said, in a report, that, 32 new outposts have been established since 2012.
Most of them were founded deep inside the West Bank, without official permits.
Some 21 of the outposts are agricultural farms, that confiscate large areas for pasture and cultivation from Palestinian shepherds and farmers, according to the report.
Despite the outposts being illegally built, Israeli authorities are working to legalise them. To date, 15 outposts have been legalised, as independent settlements or “neighbourhoods” in existing settlements, Peace Now said.
According to the figures, 18 outposts have been established since 2017, the year Trump stepped into office.
Trump’s team to the region is led by officials with ties to the settlements, including the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who said in June that, Israel has the right to annex parts of the West Bank.
The Israeli Defence Ministry and the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, a government unit that coordinates Israel’s activities in the occupied West Bank, were not immediately available to comment on the figures.
Under international law, all of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, are illegal. However, Israel holds that the settlements are legal.
Outposts are settlements built without official permits from the Israeli authorities, and are deemed illegal also under Israeli law.
Several Israeli government officials, including Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have declared their support to the outposts.– NNN-MA’AN