Israel confirms plans to create 22 new settlements in occupied West Bank

Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week. Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. He added it was also “a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel”. On 20 June, the Guardian revealed how the Israeli military had quietly handed over significant legal powers in the West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for Smotrich. Mike Huckabee, nominated as Trump’s new ambassador to Israel, signalled his support for Israeli claims on the West Bank in an interview last year.