West Bank Israeli Settlements

On May 30, 2018, Gaza’s Hamas leaders agreed to a cease-fire with Israel.

Smoke rises after Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike over residential areas in Gaza City overnight Tuesday [Ashraf Amra/Anadolu]

(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) - On May 25, 2018, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he would seek approval to fast-track construction of 2,500 new West Bank settlement homes in 2018. Besides the 2,500, he said he will advance another 1,400 units that are in preliminary stages.

There are already 121 Israeli settlements and approximately 102 Israeli outposts built illegally on Palestinian land occupied militarily by Israel since 1967 (West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights).

Lieberman’s announcement came two days after the Palestinians urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, to open an investigation into Israeli policies in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, including settlement construction, accusing Israel of systematic crimes, including apartheid in the occupied territories.

These actions come on the heels of the many Palestinians killed and injured during the Gaza border protests over the Trump administration's controversial relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Israelis approved the move, the Palestinians opposed it.

On May 30, 2018, Gaza’s Hamas leaders agreed to a cease-fire with Israel.

Lieberman’s announcement, the Palestinian appeal to the ICC, and the Gaza border protests are sure to further ratchet up tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and any hope for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.