The public overwhelmingly condemns the Israeli government's expansion of settlements in the West Bank, viewing them as illegal, oppressive acts that exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians. There is a strong sentiment of outrage directed not only at Israel but also at the international community for its perceived inaction. While a minority offers justifications for the settlements based on historical context and security, the dominant voices call for justice, accountability, and an end to oppression, reflecting a deep yearning for Palestinian statehood and peace.

Israeli Government

Palestinian Authority

International Community

Does this story keep getting removed and reposted or something?

3412points

EmpressHD

This plan will do nothing to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state".  All you need to do is look at a map.  It's a relatively small housing bloc right next to an existing housing bloc.

MostCharming9005

Hamas already buried the idea of the Palestinian state.

YogiBarelyThere

Guess what wouldn't have happened if October 7th had just been another day.

Cultural-Flow7185

It's as if Hamas told him to go ahead and do it.

borninthewaitingroom

This submission from bbc.com is behind a dynamic paywall and may be unavailable in the United States. On the 26th of June 2025, the BBC implemented a dynamic paywall on [its website](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o). Articles posted to /r/worldnews should be accessible to everyone.

*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/worldnews) if you have any questions or concerns.*

AutoModerator

He's not wrong. That's why the settlements have to stop.

NoneMoreBLK

&gt;Smotrich is a settler in the [Israeli-occupied](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_occupied_territories) [West Bank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank), living in the settlement of [Kedumim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedumim), which is [illegal under international law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_law_and_Israeli_settlements). His residence was also built illegally outside the settlement proper

Imagine being so adamant about illegally occupying someone else's land that you settle your home *outside* the already illegal settlement

drizzes

Imagine how it must feel as a Palestinian. The hate for Israel will only grow. This guarantees hostility will only continue. So sad.

Designer_Buy_1650

Anxious-Slip-4701

Israel is openly saying the ethnic cleansing plans out loud now

Alteraved

West Bank settlements are the heroin of Israel.

Constantinople2020

I know yall don't know the geography, but this location is literally just outside the old city of Jerusalem. There is no case where Israel ever will give up east Jerusalem in any 2 state solution, not sure why they would ever be expected to considering the Arabs banned Jews from visiting the holiest site in Judaism last time they controlled it.

OkGo_Go_Guy

Nah, the settlements have come down in the past and will come down again. 
If Israel has taught us anything, it’s that bombing civilian infrastructure into rubble is relatively straightforward when you’re not worried about civilian deaths.

Powerful-Injury5793

I think a refusal to acknowledge Israel, negotiate with Israel, or accept any reality where Jews occupy the same planet has more to do with a Palestinian state not being viable.  Just saying...

Sensitive-Tone5279

To be fair, the very corrupt Palestinian Authority buried the idea of a Palestinian state back in 2008, if not earlier.

Hamas buried the idea of Palestinian state.

ye_olde_green_eyes

it died on October 7.

You can't keep rejecting offers in the hopes that "resistance" will lead to a better one.

Palestine leadership gambled with their political capital and are now bankrupt

SnooOpinions5486

I don't think it was very likely that any Israeli government would give Jerusalem, even just a part of east Jerusalem, after the 7 October.

Also, ironically I think this move might actually make it more likely for a two state solutions to be found. Until now, one of the major issues of negotiations was that the Palestinian side was refusing Israeli offers in order to push for maximalist positions. But if they realize that the offers they get will only get worse, they might finally be willing to compromise in order to make a deal when they can still get good offers.

Volodio

If you stop killing yourself, everything is valid, but only if you don't create more enemies in the process

GarlicFalse3779

This submission from bbc.co.uk is behind a dynamic paywall and may be unavailable in the United States. On the 26th of June 2025, the BBC implemented a dynamic paywall on [its website](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o). Articles posted to /r/worldnews should be accessible to everyone.

*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/worldnews) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Of course it's the fucking finance minister again.

Spudtron98

The Israeli settlements in the West Bank are growing every year and isn't being stopped, so who's going to stop these settlements in Gaza?

Ill-Walrus5475

Did anyone expect anything different after oct 07.

Gaza will just be a section of Isreal.

There is no other plausible true solution that assures Israeli safety.

This isn't an argument about the ethics of it.

Just a statement 

If a smaller extremely weak terrorist state attacks and murders it basically assures this ending.

Demetre19864

I'm not sure what France, UK, Australia, et al expected. He's doing this specifically because you pissed him off and he wants to piss you off.

qksv

This is the same as quoting Marjorie Taylor green that there are Jewish space lasers as the official position of the us. Ignore this right nut job. He should not even be in the press. Same with the finance minister.

modiddly

The E1 project has been "approved" at least two previous times that I can remember off the top of my head and each time nothing happened in the end. 

Personally, I'm not going to get worked up about it until it progresses significantly further than this.

eyl569

Putting a settlement right up against Nablus seems like a bad idea.

Just sayin’

Windhawker

whyy_i_eyes_ya

I think the documentary no other land winning an Oscar and the recent viral documentary by Louis Theroux, both about life in the West Bank dealing with the settlers is what’s spurred the UK and Canada to make harsher statements against the settlements than they ever have. Though if they’re still not willing to do major sanctions or some other action it probably won’t make a difference at least in the short term.

soalone34

“Settlements” is such a cheery way to describe an occupation that’s illegal under international law. I understand that’s the common term at the moment, but surely there’s a better word to use, particular when “settlers” are often radicals who intimidate or kill Palestinians in their own land.

jxdxtxrrx

You know there’s a word for when one group of people forms a series of settlements in the territory of another people without permission

Ok-Elk-1615

People will look at that and say "yeah, palestinians shouldn't be violent"

Stek_02

would you not resist if your homeland was being taken over?

sezuenn

And yet some people wonder why Israel is hated so much. It's not because they are inhabited by mostly Jews, it's because they keep stealing another country's sovereign territory.

smoothie4564

Not a genocide though, they're just creating new settlement areas only open to Israelis, protected by military force, on land that is supposed to belong to Palestine. 


Nothing to see here, what do you mean manifest destiny? 

Joe_Jeep

Cold_Information_936

Source 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/29/israel-new-settlements-occupied-west-bank-palestinian-state

Deltarianus

"There's no place like someone else's home"

\- Israeli proverb

redelastic

Ya and this is where there is no Hamas so we all know what Israel wants at the end of the day

DIYLawCA

PatimationStudios-2

Wutierrez

Oh it's self-defense against Hamas right, right?

NOOBFUNK

JosephFinn

Jaded-Ad262

RespectSquare8279

Settlements are well placed to prevent any two states solution and to surround the Palestinians into small bantustan pockets

AhmedCheeseater

Something about Lebensraum fits in here, somewhere...

Visccas

The zios don't want peace or two states solution they want it all to themselves something like a Lebensraum or manifest destiny.

Immediate-Parsley-98

Israel is an apartheid state and deserves to be sanctioned by every developed nation. I used to wonder why so many Arab nations actively boycotted anything related to Israel, but now I completely understand. The Israeli government does nothing but marginalize Palestinians and hides those oppressive tactics under the veil of alleged antisemitism.

Defund, divest, and sanction Israel!! Liberate Palestine!!

Special_Transition13

This is truly disgusting. It's hard to feel any sympathy for them. They're a democracy. They voted for this shit. 

chris_p_bacon1

Intelligent-Nose-948

Iof don't even allow Palestinians to collect rain water. I m not kidding, look it up.

zef999

Settler colonial jewish supremacist state of israel does not have right to exist

arm_4321

But it's "antisemitism" and "terrorism" when the locals have an issue with this

Manealendil

Outposts are illegal under Israeli law, but now the Israeli government are here approving them anyway...

Annatastic6417

Very sad indeed because the people these terrorists are stealing homes and land from are very poor and vulnerable and have nowhere to go to unlike these terrorists who have citizenship in other countries. I personally will make them pay somehow!

Alecc95

I've heard Israelis say they just need living space... wait I've heard that one before

allanman1

[deleted]

If the hostages are returned the war will be over and peace will return /s

KizM067

GooningAddict397

How do Israeli access these settlements while it is spreading inside the West Bank? Do they need to cross a lot of checking point in order to go home from cities outside West Bank?

Competitive-Sink-861

To say they have been "approved" is like saying "we've investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing".

berejser

These settlements must end immediately and stop being built, because if you settle into another person’s land illegally, of course they would be mad, so don’t be surprised if they start fighting you over it. And then you would take that as an excuse to ethnically cleanse them even more and continue with the Palestinian holocaust further.

Zayn5939

They're all illegal under any law. Making the indigenous Palestinians stay in Bantustans. This is partly why Amnesty, HRW, Btselem and others call this Apartheid.

ProfAsmani

ILLEGAL settlements. Let's call them what they are.

Zatoecchi

How is it different to Nazi Germany settlements in occupied Poland in WW2?

lucslav

Tybolt_Crake9834

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evIyrrjTTY

invinciblewalnut

Almost like he wants to continually provoke the Palestinians.  Peaceful times are not good for Netanyahu.

huntsab2090

HATECELL

When the colonisers in America did this to the Native peoples, they called every one that resisted "savage barbarians"

Now they call them "terrorists"

We can't let them get away with this again. Free Palestine!

CoffeeCommee

What is the ramifications of this? Clear breach of international law and no one does anything? What has the West become?

Herotyx

But nobody wants the East Bank!

Sure, Jordan didn't think about human rights while killing 20000 Palestinians in a week.

They learned the lesson!

CrashOvverride

The BBC did a report on this and how they were threatened and chased out by the settlers. All I could think watching is how barren, dry and uninviting the land is. It's baffling looking at this small bit of land that people are so willing to kill for it, there's fuck all there.

Outrageous-Hat3048

Academic-Log3682

Israelis be like: if I don't steal your land it someone else will

ElTaler

Ok-Radio5562

a1289a

I’m a libertarian, and this never felt this politically at home on Reddit. Israel has led the US down a path of self destruction since I’ve been alive. Forcing us all to pay for their genocide with our tax dollars.

jaredr174

I'm sure they came about this honestly and will not cause any problems whatsoever

EaseHisPain

Nearly every country in the world, including the United States until this administration, has condemned and refused to recognize the settlements. What I do not understand is this. Israel controls the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It wants to remain a Jewish state. But in that area, from the Jordan river to the sea, the population is roughly half Israeli Jews and half Palestinian Arabs. So why is Israel continuing to build settlements in areas with a Palestinian majority? Is the long term goal a one state reality? The Palestinians are not going anywhere, so what is the actual strategy?

Civil_Royal3450

Just like Nazi Germany this won’t stop until the world stops it

throwawayoklahoma713

Enough-Comfortable73

Which areas are they building in the west bank? Area A, B, or C? Because it kind of makes a BIG difference to know then to blantnly just say, "Israel bad, Israel take more land,"  instead of some map with no distinguishing facts and no moral boundaries and call it "facts" to confuse the population of reddit in your inert bigotry over Israel. That why you guys can't keep Israel's name out of your mouth.

Kavkaz87

ngl, I lowkey want an Israel supporter justifying this to see what they would say

a-potato-named-rin

HugePersonality1

israel as an idea is a threat to world peace

ideikkk

Calling it settlement is the most accurate word to call it

CheapTail

ReporterSouthern7712

So more (by international law) illegal settlements within Palestinian territory, huh.

You can tell that this was entirely done by Smotrich because it is only his faction that can actually go and settle next to Ramallah and Nablus.  
Especially Nablus, are they insane??? The ones there are already violence hotspots and they want to add new ones??

Brilliant-Lab546

Where is Abbas, and who does he work for?

Open_Chemical_5575

What a shitty idea. Make trouble to the palestines and when they fight back killing them for terrorists.

Playful_Thought_8374

This is not going to lead to peace. But then, Israel does not want peace. They want Lebensraum.

program13001207test

Every time I see some zio spout off about Gaza I keep asking them if land theft is part of the saving of hostages and and wish to find peace? 

Every lie they espouse falls apart when looking at the west back and their actions there.

Their only motivation has been expelling Palestinians by murder or land theft. 

Any other excuse is a lie and people need to keep saying this. 

Zionism is colonialism and nothing else.

Fanatic3panic

zharguy

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced a controversial settlement plan aimed at dividing the West Bank, which critics argue could extinguish prospects for a Palestinian state.

Israeli Settlement Expansion in the West Bank

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want