JERUSALEM: Israel’s cabinet on Thursday referred a plan to allocate 1 billion shekels ($339.7 million) for the establishment of new settlements in the occupied West Bank to the security cabinet, deferring a vote on the funds, Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said.
The plan was promoted by far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, a proponent of Israeli settlement expansion who has said he wants to bury the idea of Palestinian statehood.
Palestinians and many countries view the settlements as a primary obstacle to peace, saying they eat into West Bank land that could form a potential Palestinian state. Settlement expansion has been accompanied in recent years by a rise in settler violence, with settlers staging sometimes deadly attacks on Palestinians.
A spokesperson for Smotrich said the ministers approved the budget framework for the settlement expansion but it was decided that the security cabinet “will decide how to distribute” the funds.
It was not clear when the security cabinet would take its vote but Peace Now said it would convene on Sunday. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet schedule, ministers were expected to discuss the establishment of temporary sites that have already been approved in the West Bank.
