Resistance to the Wall and Settlement: The Decision to Establish Settlements is a Genocide Against Palestinian Geography

SadaNews - The head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Minister Moyad Shabatan, stated that the approval of what is known as the "Israeli Occupation Cabinet" to establish and legalize 19 new settlements across the West Bank is considered another step in the race to eradicate Palestinian geography in favor of the colonial settlement project. He described this decision as a serious escalation that reveals the true intentions of the occupation government to entrench a system of annexation, apartheid, and complete judaization of Palestinian land.

Shabatan stated, "This step comes as part of a systematic policy led by the settlers' government under the leadership of Netanyahu and Smotrich that aims to legitimize colonial outposts and convert them into official settlements, thereby solidifying Israeli control over Palestinian territories."

He added that the decision forms a blatant challenge to international law and to Security Council resolutions, especially resolution 2334, and sounds the alarm about the future of the West Bank, which is facing a systematic colonial process aimed at uprooting the Palestinian presence and turning cities and villages into isolated and besieged enclaves.

Shabatan indicated that this decision comes in a clear escalatory context of the Israeli colonial settlement project, which operates according to a comprehensive plan aimed at situating as many settlements and colonial clusters in the Palestinian geography as possible with the goal of geographic separation and subjugating Palestinian life to the logic of colonial madness. He emphasized that this announcement adds to a series of significant announcements by the occupation government regarding advancing a number of decisions about settlements. On March 23, 2025, the occupation announced the separation of 13 colonial neighborhoods from major settlements and considered them independent settlements, in a move aimed at granting them separate administrative and security powers, expanding the settlers' control deep into Palestinian land.

Subsequently, on May 29, 2025, another decision was made to convert 22 colonial outposts into independent settlements, marking at that time the most dangerous "legitimation" of illegal colonial sites in decades.

He pointed out that with the Cabinet's approval to establish and legalize 19 new settlements, it is clear that these decisions are not separate events, but rather consecutive stages in a comprehensive colonial project aimed at imposing a new reality on Palestinian land that precedes any potential political solution. It confirms that the current occupation government operates according to a strategic vision aimed at ending the possibility of establishing a geographically connected Palestinian state by expanding settlements and linking them with colonial and security roads that serve only the settlers.

Shabatan affirmed that the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, in cooperation with all official and popular bodies, will continue legal, diplomatic, and field work to expose Israeli colonial crimes before the international community, calling for urgent action from the United Nations and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions to stop this dangerous expansion.

Shabatan stressed that the Palestinian people are committed to their land and their historical right to it, and they will not be intimidated by colonial projects, no matter how extreme and aggressive the occupation's measures become.