By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta
CAIRO/TAYASIR, West Bank, April 9 (Reuters) – Israel has approved the establishment of dozens of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an Israeli watchdog group said on Thursday, amid a rise in settler attacks on Palestinians across the occupied territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not formally announced the establishment of the 34 new settlements, many of them outposts in far-flung areas of the mountainous territory, the Peace Now watchdog group said in a statement.
The decision, made by the Israeli cabinet on April 1, was reported widely on Thursday by Israeli media outlets, which said Israel’s military censor had approved it for publication.
The Palestinian Presidency’s office condemned the plan as a “flagrant violation of international law”.
Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Yesha Council, a body that represents West Bank settlers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PALESTINIAN KILLED IN SETTLER ATTACK ON WEDNESDAY
Israel’s settlements on occupied West Bank land are illegal under international law and must be withdrawn as soon as possible, the United Nations top court said last year. Some 500,000 settlers live in the West Bank, home to 3 million Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s government has overseen a historic settlement construction push that his far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says is aimed at burying the idea of Palestinian statehood in the West Bank.
His tenure has also seen a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinians. On Wednesday, a 28-year-old Palestinian was killed in a settler attack in the village of Tayasir, near Tubas in the West Bank’s north.
The Israeli military said an off-duty soldier fired towards a Palestinian during a stone-throwing incident near Tayasir. It did not immediately clarify whether the soldier was also a settler involved in the attack.
Settlers began attacking Tayasir residents after establishing outposts near the village about a month ago, residents say.
“They don’t want to leave any place for us,” said Hussam Abdel Latif Wahdan, 65, a farmer who said he was attacked by around 12 settlers late on Wednesday. “If I had not managed to escape they would have killed me,” he said.
Wahdan has four children and depends on his farm for his livelihood, but fears it has become the settlers’ next target.
Settlers have killed at least six Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of this year, with rights groups marking a sharp rise in attacks since the outbreak of the Iran war on February 28. Attacks include arson, beatings and vandalism of Palestinian villages.
Israel has blamed settler attacks on a “fringe minority”, a view disputed by most human rights observers and residents. It also argues that territories it captured in the 1967 war are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands, but most of the international community regards them as occupied.
SETTLERS ATTACKING ‘WITH IMPUNITY’
The United Nations says settler violence has led to the displacement of at least 700 Palestinians from the start of 2025 through February 2026.
“Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinians throughout the West Bank with impunity, and so viciously that this has led to entire communities being displaced,” said Sarit Michaeli of the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
B’Tselem says settlers have been increasingly pushing to establish settlements in areas under civil management by the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank.
Under 1990s peace accords, the West Bank was divided into Area A, under full PA jurisdiction; Area B, under Palestinian civil but Israeli security control; and Area C, under Israeli civil and security control.
“Since October 7, settlers have deliberately targeted Area B – and now even Area A,” said Dror Etkes, of the Israeli rights group Kerem Navot, which tracks settlements.
Palestinian villages in Areas B and C tend to be isolated, far away from major population centres, leaving residents more exposed to settler attacks.
Peace Now said the April 1 cabinet decision did not envisage the establishment of settlements in Areas A or B.
(Writing and additional reporting by Pesha MagidEditing by Gareth Jones)
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