At a UN Security Council session, the international community called for a de-escalation of Israeli-Palestinian tensions. “I urge all sides to refrain from unilateral steps that increase tensions and to refrain from provocative actions and messages at this sensitive time,” UN Middle East Envoy Tor Wennesland said yesterday. He said he “remains deeply concerned” about Israel’s ongoing settlement activity.
According to US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Washington also “remains deeply concerned” about the ongoing violence in the region. “2022 was the deadliest year since the Second Intifada, and 2023 is on track to surpass that (…) level of violence.”
The Israeli parliament on Tuesday overturned a law banning settlements that had existed for years. With the change in law, the Knesset allowed, among other things, Israeli settlers to return to four settlements in the north of the West Bank that the authorities had vacated in 2005.
In the West Bank, which has been occupied since 1967, 2.8 million Palestinians and 475,000 Israelis live in settlements that the UN has classified as illegal under international law. In addition to official settlements, there are also “wild” settlements that have been established without permission from the Israeli government.
