De-facto freeze broken, IDF to approve new West Bank settler homes

The Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria is set to approve and advance new homes in at last 25 West Bank settlements on October 14, thereby breaking the eight month de-facto freeze on such action.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged last week to convene the council, which last met in February, but a date and a schedule for the meeting was only posted on Sunday night.It will mark the first advancement of settlement activity since Israel signed normalization deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Officials from both countries have stated that the normalization deals were based on an Israeli agreement to suspend its plans to annex portions of the West Bank.Settlement activity in the interim was not dealt with. But both opponents and proponents of settlements view them as a form of de-facto annexation, in that they strengthen Israel’s hold on the territory.Under the Trump peace plan, Israel can eventually apply sovereignty to all the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, but no date has been given for that application.In spite of this plan, Arab countries and the bulk of the International community have insisted that Israel must still evacuate all of its settlements and withdraw to pre-1967 lines.On Sunday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemned the pending settler building approvals, noting that such activity “indicates that Israel has not given up its annexation plans.”Turkey’s Foreign Ministry added that “it also shows that the allegations of some countries that they have prevented these annexation plans by signing normalization agreements with Israel are nothing but a deception.“We once again point out that we do not accept these illegal steps of Israel and call on the international community to resist against the attempts to undermine the rights of the Palestinian people and their aspiration for independence.“The Palestinian territories belong to the Palestinian people,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. “We will not allow this fact to be forgotten. We will continue to stand side by side with our Palestinian brothers and defend the Palestinian cause.”
Source