Israel has expanded Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem since war with Hamas began: Report

Israel has expanded the development of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War, according to a report.

The settlements in West Bank, which contains East Jerusalem, refer to the Jewish communities in the region that Israel has controlled since 1967 when it occupied it after winning a war with the neighbouring Arab nations.

The Guardian has reported that the Israeli government has accelerated the construction of around 20 settlement projects in the West Bank in the past six months. These projects are expected to have thousands of housing units.

The report further said that the Israeli government ministries and offices are behind either all the largest and most contentious of these projects.

New settlements next to Palestinian neighbourhoods

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The settlements approved or accelerated in the past six months are being built next to Palestinian neighbourhoods, according to The Guardian.

The two projects of Givat Hamatos and Givat Shaked are being built such that they flank Palestinian community of Beit Safafa, according to the report, which adds that a third project is set to expand an existing settlement, Kidmat Zion, in the heart of the Palestinian neighbourhood Ras al-Amud on the eastern periphery of East Jerusalem, according to the report.

The report said that Givat Hamatos project is particularly controversial since the time it was first proposed in 1990s.

“The Givat Shaked project has been a source of division since building was first proposed there in the mid-1990s. Concerns that this posed a threat to the Oslo peace process led to international outrage and Washington pushed Israel to cancel the plan,” said the report.

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Another project, Lower Aqueduct, involves building a large settlement next to a Palestinian neighbourhood near Beit Safafa, as per the report.

Many of these settlements are being strategically built to further fracture the Palestinian space and seal off the region, said Amy Cohen of Jerusalem-based human rights NGO Ir Amim.

“Many of the settlement plans are strategically designated for areas along the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem. If constructed, they would further fracture the Palestinian space and create a ‘sealing-off’ effect of East Jerusalem from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank. Such moves directly undermine conditions necessary for a viable independent Palestinian state with a contiguous capital in East Jerusalem. All this while bringing planning and building for Palestinians in the city to a complete stop,” said Cohen to The Guardian.

What are Jewish settlements in West Bank?

Following the 1967 Arab-Israel War, Israel occupied the West Bank including East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Then, Israel began settling Jews in these areas in communities that come to be known as settlements.

Around 450,000 Jewish settlers live in 160 settlements in the West Bank, according to CNN.

The international community largely considers these Jewish settlements as illegal in the eyes of international law. The Geneva Convention states that the occupying power should not transfer its own civilians to the occupied territories.

The Jewish settlements are also seen as an impediment to the realisation of the proposed two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The solution proposed a Jewish State of Israel and an Arab State of Palestine side-by-side. The Palestinians say their state should comprise the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as the capital, but the presence of hundreds of thousands of Israelis in these territories is expected to hinder the formation of such a state.