Smotrich Approves Establishment of New Settlement City East of Jerusalem

On Thursday, Israeli Finance Minister and extremist Bezalel Smotrich approved a plan to establish a new settlement city east of Jerusalem, comprising approximately 3,380 housing units.

It indicated that Smotrich approved the establishment of a new settlement city named "Mishmar Yehuda" east of Jerusalem, including 3,380 housing units.

In turn, Smotrich claimed in a post on the American company "X" platform that "the new settlement city is considered a strategic stronghold to protect Jerusalem from the eastern side as part of the ongoing policy of strengthening control over the area".

Despite the illegality of settlement, the extremist minister added that the new city "will provide tens of thousands of housing units and will contribute to strengthening the eastern ring around Jerusalem".

The project was considered "an additional step in consolidating sovereignty over the land, and will contribute to thwarting the idea of establishing an Arab (Palestinian) state in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)".

On December 11 of this month, the Israeli mini-cabinet "Cabinet" approved a plan to legalize 19 settlements.

The announcement of the new project comes on Thursday amid growing international criticism of expansionist settlement policies, which are considered violations of international law, amid warnings of their implications for political solution opportunities and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

This also comes amid escalating attacks by the army and settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem coinciding with the start of the Israeli genocide war in Gaza on October 8, 2023, which lasted for a year and ended with a ceasefire agreement that entered into force on October 10 last year.

Since the start of the Israeli genocide, the army and settlers have killed 1,094 Palestinians in the West Bank and injured about 11,000 others, in addition to arresting more than 21,000.