Israel has approved the construction of 126 settlement units in the northern West Bank's Jenin, Israeli media reported Wednesday, marking a renewed push to expand settlements in an area that was evacuated under Israel’s 2005 disengagement plan.
"Twenty years after its evacuation, a plan has been approved to build 126 permanent homes in Sanur settlement," Channel 12 said.
Under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel evacuated its settlements in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in 2005, including Sanur, under a unilateral plan known as the "disengagement plan."
Yossi Dagan, head of the regional council representing settlements in the northern West Bank, said Sanur "will be rebuilt."
"It will include 126 permanent homes and in the future it will become a city in Israel," he added.
Israel's Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed the new settlement building, calling it "a message to enemies that we are here to stay."
Since taking office in December 2022, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accelerated illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which the United Nations considers occupied Palestinian territory.
On Monday, the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said the return to Sanur followed legislative amendments by the current government to the 2005 disengagement plan, allowing the lifting of restrictions on settlement building in the northern West Bank.
According to the group, the pace of approvals and planning in the case of Sanur was exceptional, reflecting the government's determination to resume settlement activity in areas that had been evacuated for years.
Rawhi Fattouh, chairman of the Palestinian National Council, the legislative body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), denounced the Israeli decision as a "dangerous escalation" and a "blatant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions."
In a statement Wednesday, he said the Israeli settlement policies amount to "war crimes" and form part of a systematic plan for "ethnic cleansing" and de facto annexation of Palestinian land, in an attempt to impose facts on the ground that undermine prospects for an independent Palestinian state.
Fattouh warned that developments in the West Bank amount to a process of isolating towns and cities into fragmented enclaves, alongside efforts to weaken the Palestinian Authority by targeting its financial resources.
He called on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities and take urgent action to stop the Israeli violations and preserve chances for a just peace.
About 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in hundreds of settlements in the occupied West Bank, including around 250,000 in East Jerusalem, and carry out daily attacks against Palestinians, according to Palestinian sources.
Since the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza began Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli forces and occupiers have intensified attacks across the West Bank, killing more than 1,100 Palestinians and injuring about 12,000 others, amid warnings of a potential Israeli move toward annexation of the territory.
