In order to achieve “Greater Israel,” new rules that support and hasten settlement growth protect settlers from responsibility and worsen Palestinian rights violations.
The development and growth of settlements, the affirmation of the Jewish state’s superiority, and the declaration of Jewish sovereignty over the “entire land of Israel” are some of the main pillars of the present Israeli administration.
The present Israeli government expressly proclaims in the first sentence of its key policy principles: “The Jewish people have the exclusive and indisputable right to all the land of Israel.” Parallel to this, the government makes clear that it plays a crucial part in upholding Israel’s Jewish identity and cultural legacy.
It is also dedicated to stepping up immigration efforts and embracing immigrants from all over the world to make up for the declining number of Jewish Israelis. In order to further its strategic goals, it also keeps expanding settlements in the Palestinian territory captured in 1967.
The administration is simultaneously attempting to firmly establish Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. All around the nation, especially in areas like the Galilee, the Naqab (Negev), the Golan Heights, and the West Bank, settlement development is a continuous process.
These regions are the focus of settlement growth, production, and the start of several initiatives.
Palestinians being ejected
The various Israeli governments’ use of the word “development” simply refers to more land confiscation from Palestinians, which solidifies the occupation.
Israel has been driving Palestinians out of the Naqab, where this has been the case. Israeli authorities destroyed Palestinian tents at the end of May in the village of Al-Araqib, which the government refuses to acknowledge despite the fact that it has existed since before the creation of the state.
It has been destroyed and the residents evicted from this town 216 times.
In order to force Sheikh Sayah al-Turi, the village chief and a prominent Bedouin activist, and his neighbors to leave their homes, the police have actually detained them on multiple occasions.
The current government immediately began implementing a December 2021 plan to double the population of the Golan Heights to 100,000 by 2025 and expand settlements there. This region has been recognized by the government as being of strategic importance to the State of Israel, highlighting its substantial development potential.
In addition, the state’s Jewish identity is being bolstered by the government through educational initiatives that emphasize the Jewish people’s exclusive entitlement to all of Israel’s land.
Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the religious Zionist party and Finance Minister, has been given extensive authority over the West Bank, where Israel maintains full security and civilian control, to oversee the development of settlements and occupation policies.
A member of Smotrich’s party now holds a significant position in the Ministry of Security. In addition to coordinating Israeli government activities in the 1967 occupied territories, this appointed individual is crucial in selecting the Civil Administration’s leader.
In accordance with its settler-Zionist ideology, the far-right Religious Zionism party now has unprecedented authority to implement its policies regarding Palestinians and settlers in the West Bank.
