(Bloomberg) -- Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said he aims to have 1 million Israeli citizens living in the West Bank within a decade, more than double the current number.
Bennett, who spoke at a conference in Jerusalem, also said that the 60% of the West Bank defined in the Oslo peace accords as “Area C” belongs to Israel, and that he intends to extend Israeli sovereignty there.
“The State of Israel must change its way of thinking,” Bennett said. “We are opening an immediate and substantive campaign on the future of the lands of Israel, the future of Area C.”
The West Bank is divided into three categories with varying levels of Palestinian autonomy. Jewish settlements are concentrated in Area C, where Israel retains nearly exclusive control. Israeli negotiators have pressed to include the heavily settled areas as part of sovereign Israel under any peace agreement, with land swaps for the Palestinians elsewhere.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to extend Israeli sovereignty to all West Bank settlements as he sought votes ahead of national elections last year. He’ll face an unprecedented third vote in less than 12 months on March 2.
The U.S. has strengthened his hand, with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announcing in November that Israeli settlements in the West Bank aren’t inconsistent with international law, signaling a further shift away from established U.S. policy by the Trump administration. Over 400,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about 2.6 million Palestinians.
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