Jerusalem, August 15, 2025: The UN human rights office has condemned Israel’s plan to build thousands of new homes linking an existing West Bank settlement to areas near East Jerusalem, saying the move is illegal under international law and risks the forced eviction of Palestinians — an act it described as a war crime.
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Thursday that he would push ahead with the long-delayed project, declaring it would “bury” the prospect of a Palestinian state.
A spokesperson for the UN rights office warned the plan would fragment the West Bank into isolated enclaves and violate the prohibition on an occupying power transferring its own civilian population into occupied territory.
Currently, around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. While Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 — a move not recognised by most of the international community — it has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank, which most world powers consider occupied territory.
Settlement expansion, critics argue, undermines the viability of a two-state solution, which envisions an independent Palestinian state comprising East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza alongside Israel. Israel, however, cites historical and biblical ties to the land, strategic security considerations, and maintains that the West Bank is “disputed” rather than “occupied.”
