By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a plan to seize strategic areas across the occupied West Bank.

Key Developments

• Smotrich said he presented Netanyahu with a plan targeting strategic areas in the occupied West Bank.
• The announcement came shortly after the European Union imposed new sanctions on Israeli occupiers and settlement-linked groups.
• The Israeli minister called for expanding settlements and deepening Israeli control across the territory.

‘Seize Strategic Areas’

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Monday that he had presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a plan to seize strategic lands across the occupied West Bank.

“I presented the Prime Minister with a plan to seize strategic areas in the West Bank in Areas A, B and C,” Smotrich wrote on X.

The proposal came shortly after European Union foreign ministers approved a new round of sanctions targeting Israeli settlers and organizations accused of supporting illegal settlement activity in the occupied territory.

“European hypocrisy knows no bounds,” Smotrich claimed.

“No one will force the State of Israel to pursue a policy of national suicide,” he added.

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‘Strengthening the Settlements’

Smotrich called for expanding Israeli settlement activity and consolidating control over the occupied territory.

The Israeli minister advocated “strengthening the settlements” and “deepening control” over what he referred to as “Israel’s land.”

“The West Bank is Israel’s security belt, and it is time to make it clear to the world that anyone who tries to weaken our control over it will face dire consequences,” he said.

Under the Oslo II agreement signed in 1995, the occupied West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C, with Area C remaining under full Israeli control and comprising roughly 60 percent of the territory.

EU Sanctions

The announcement followed a new European sanctions package against Israeli settlers and organizations connected to settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

Rejecting the sanctions, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said settlement activity represented a “historical and moral right” for Jewish people.

Settlement expansion has accelerated significantly since Netanyahu’s government took office at the end of 2022, according to data from the Israeli organization Peace Now.

Approximately 750,000 Israeli occupiers currently live in settlements across the occupied West Bank, including around 250,000 in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian estimates.

The settlements are considered illegal under international law.

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Escalation across the West Bank

Since the beginning of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, Israeli occupation forces and illegal settlers have intensified attacks throughout the occupied West Bank.

According to Palestinian figures, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, roughly 12,000 wounded and nearly 22,000 arrested during that period.

(Anadolu, PC, Israeli Media, X)