Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich<\/a>, a far-right settler leader who holds extensive authority over civilian affairs in the occupied West Bank through his additional role in the defence ministry.<\/p>\n“Twenty-one years after the crime of expulsion from northern Samaria, today we completed the correction,” Smotrich said, using the biblical term Israeli officials use for the northern West Bank. He described Kadim\u2019s return as completing the revival of the four settlements dismantled in 2005.<\/p>\n
Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, minister Zeev Elkin and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan also attended the event, underscoring the level of state backing behind what was presented as a settler-led return.<\/p>\n
Dagan said the reopening of Kadim was not the end of the movement\u2019s ambitions. “We fixed the expulsion from northern Samaria,” he said, adding that settlers would also “return to Gush Katif” \u2014 the bloc of Israeli settlements in Gaza that was evacuated under the 2005 plan.<\/p>\n
The 30 families are expected to form the basis of a much larger settlement. Israeli media reported that plans envisage a religious community from Tel Aviv and central Israel joining the new settlement, while Dagan said Kadim would “stay and grow twentyfold”.<\/p>\n
Settlement expansion drive<\/p>\n
The return to Kadim comes amid a dramatic acceleration of Israeli settlement expansion under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s coalition, the most right-wing government in Israel\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Israeli officials have said the government approved 104 new settlements across the occupied West Bank after taking office in late 2022, including 19 in the northern West Bank.<\/p>\n
According to Peace Now, settlers have established 248 new outposts since the current government came to power, including 65 between January and the start of August this year. Human Rights Watch said this expansion has been accompanied by Israel-backed settler violence that is driving Palestinians from communities across the West Bank.<\/p>\n
The reopening of Kadim also follows Israel\u2019s military operations in Jenin, where Israeli forces have repeatedly raided the city and refugee camp, causing widespread destruction and the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians. Israel is also constructing a military outpost near Jenin refugee camp, deepening Palestinian concerns that military operations and settlement expansion form part of a single effort to cement Israeli control over the area.<\/p>\n
Human rights organisations have warned that the Netanyahu government is pressing ahead with settlement projects before Israel\u2019s scheduled 27 October election, seeking to make any future reversal politically and practically difficult.<\/p>\n
The timing has drawn particular attention because Israel this week opened tenders for 1,234 settlement units in the E1 area east of occupied East Jerusalem. Bidding is due to close on 19 October, days before the election.<\/p>\n
E1 is a strategically significant area between occupied East Jerusalem and the illegal Maale Adumim settlement. Construction there would further sever Palestinian territorial contiguity between the northern and southern West Bank, undermining the prospect of a viable Palestinian state.<\/p>\n
Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway jointly urged Israel to withdraw the E1 tenders <\/a>and halt settlement expansion, warning firms that participating could carry legal and reputational consequences linked to serious breaches of international law.<\/p>\nIsraeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law. In its July 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice found Israel\u2019s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful and said Israel must halt all new settlement activity, evacuate settlers, and end its presence as rapidly as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel’s reversal of the 2005 Disengagement Law has prompted the re-settlement of Sanur, Homesh, Kadim and Ganim in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[37,11695,5144],"class_list":["post-259037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-israel","tag-israeli-settlements","tag-occupied-west-bank"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117133671433750852","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}