Global & US Headlines
Israel Greenlights 19 New West Bank Settlements After Branding Palestinian Waste Fires a Security Threat
Between 18–21 Dec 2025, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz rolled out an emergency plan targeting Palestinian “environmental terrorism,” then secured cabinet approval for 19 new West Bank settlements, signalling an accelerated annexation push.
Focusing Facts
- 21 Dec 2025 cabinet vote authorised 19 settlements, lifting the tally from 141 in 2022 to 210, a 49 % jump (Peace Now data).
- 18 Dec 2025 emergency order lets the IDF confiscate Palestinian waste trucks, allocate unlimited budgets, and bill cleanup costs to the Palestinian Authority.
- Smotrich warned on 19 Dec he will withhold additional Palestinian clearance revenues to finance the plan.
Context
Using an environmental pretext to expand control recalls Britain’s 1900 Boer War ‘scorched-earth’ justifications and Israel’s own 1981 Golan annexation framed as ‘security’. The twin moves fit a 50-year trajectory—from the 1970s settlement nuclei, through the 1993 Oslo pause, to the 2023 repeal of the Disengagement Law—of turning a military occupation into de-facto sovereignty via civilian facts on the ground and financial levers. On a century scale, such incremental annexation, once entrenched (cf. East Jerusalem 1967–1980), is rarely reversed and reshapes demography, ecology, and fiscal relations, making any future two-state border increasingly theoretical. Whether this week marks a tipping point or another incremental step will hinge less on rhetoric than on sustained international enforcement—historically absent since UN 242 (1967).
Perspectives
Israeli mainstream news outlets
Haaretz, The Times of Israel — Illegal Palestinian waste-burning in the West Bank is “environmental terrorism” that threatens Israelis’ health and therefore justifies an emergency security plan run by Defense Minister Katz and Finance Minister Smotrich. Largely relays Israeli ministers’ framing while downplaying structural causes like limited Palestinian waste infrastructure and the plan’s implications for Palestinian autonomy.
Middle-Eastern publications critical of Israel
Middle East Monitor, Gulf Daily News Online — Smotrich’s ‘national emergency plan’ and fresh settlement approvals are tools to seize Palestinian tax revenues and to thwart any future Palestinian state, moves denounced as violations of international law. Highlights Israeli malfeasance with loaded terms such as “far-right” and “occupation,” giving scant attention to the environmental hazards cited by Israel or to Israeli public concerns.
Progressive activist/left-wing outlets
Common Dreams, Democratic Underground — Authorising 19 new West Bank settlements is an act of apartheid colonisation and “naked thievery” enabled by unwavering U.S. support, aimed at killing Palestinian statehood. Uses emphatically moralistic language and extensive historical grievances, providing little space for Israeli security rationales or legal counter-arguments.