JERUSALEM: An Israeli NGO on Wednesday condemned a government plan to invest around $2.7 billion in infrastructure and thousands of new residential units across several settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in 2022, his government has rapidly expanded settlements in the West Bank, drawing criticism from rights groups and the UN.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich signed an umbrella agreement to invest in settlements in the north of the Palestinian territory.

"This is another significant step in the settlement revolution we are leading in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich said on X, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

"As part of the agreement, approximately 12,000 new housing units will be established, alongside an investment of more than eight billion ILS (approximately $ 2.7 billion) in infrastructure, public institutions and settlement development."

Netanyahu hailed the agreement.

"Not only do we defend this place, we elevate it," he said.

Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now slammed the decision, accusing the government of squandering public funds and entrenching the occupation of the West Bank.

The group said the move would complicate any future withdrawal from the West Bank and the creation of a Palestinian state.

"Umbrella agreements are used for the rapid development of large-scale projects," Hagit Ofran, a spokeswoman for Peace Now, told AFP.

"From the government's perspective, it is a double win: unbridled construction in the settlements, along with shackling the next government to commitments that will make it difficult to roll back this terrible government's reckless policy."

Since taking office, Netanyahu's government, widely seen as one of the most right-wing in the country's history, has approved the establishment of 102 settlements in the West Bank, according to Peace Now.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.

Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, among some three million Palestinians.

Articles tagged with "Investment plans"

Israeli NGO slams investment plan for West Bank settlements