In the West Bank, this approach takes another form through a legal amendment approved by the commander of the Central Command in the Israeli occupation army, which allows for connecting buildings erected without permits in settlement outposts to water and electricity networks before their plans are approved. This measure gives settlement outposts the opportunity to obtain basic services for three years, renewable, providing them with the elements for continuity and expansion, and paving the way for their subsequent legalization.
The danger of this amendment appears in its entrenchment of a clear double standard in applying construction regulations. While settlement outposts receive infrastructure facilities, according to data from the "Bimkom" association, only seven plans out of 115 submitted by Palestinians to regulate construction in their villages have been approved since 2011. Out of 240 Palestinian communities whose construction is located entirely in Area "C", only 21 have a valid structural plan. These figures reveal the use of planning and infrastructure as tools for discrimination and exclusion, and for subjecting Palestinians to restrictions that affect their right to housing, stability, and the natural development of their communities.
The scene becomes even more dangerous with the Israeli government's announcement of the establishment of 104 new settlements, including 48 settlements through the legalization of existing outposts, in addition to the pastoral settlement outposts' control over at least 786,000 dunams of West Bank land by the end of 2024, according to the human rights organizations referred to in the report. This means the expansion of control over Palestinian land, the narrowing of the space available to Palestinian communities, and the strengthening of the Israeli control system over resources, roads, and vital areas.
Confronting this settlement escalation requires practical international action that begins with imposing specific sanctions on entities and individuals involved in settlement, land confiscation, and the displacement of Palestinians, freezing any transactions that contribute to funding or expanding settlements, demanding that the Israeli government cancel the amendments that grant settlement outposts services and infrastructure that pave the way for their legalization, and stopping construction plans in Sheikh Jarrah and the rest of occupied East Jerusalem.
It also requires activating international accountability mechanisms, providing effective protection for Palestinian communities threatened with confiscation and displacement, and obligating Israel to implement relevant international legitimacy resolutions, while adopting a periodic international mechanism to monitor settlement expansion, publish its results, and hold those responsible for its violations accountable. What is required today is to move the international position from condemnation to measurable and enforceable measures that link the continuation of relations and cooperation with the occupation authorities to stopping settlement and respecting international law, and safeguarding the right of the Palestinian people to their land, self-determination, and the establishment of their independent state on their national soil, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
