Israel Inaugurates New West Bank Settlement as Minister Vows Expansion
Israeli settlers inaugurated the Gad Natan settlement in the occupied West Bank, with a minister vowing to build in Palestinian Areas A and B.
Jewish settlers inaugurated a new settlement in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, with Israeli flags lining freshly paved roads as hundreds of people gathered for the ceremony at Gad Natan.
Akiva Spiegelman, a spokesman for the settlers, said the site is home to about 10 families, with more expected to arrive. He described Gad Natan as the southernmost settlement in the Gush Etzion bloc, located near Hebron and close to the Alon settlement, and said it creates a strategic link between Gush Etzion and Kiryat Arba.
"This is one of very many settlements we've been forming in the last few years with the help of the government, with the help of the Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich," Spiegelman said.
Speaking at the ceremony, Israel's minister for settlement and national missions, Orit Strock, said the government would press ahead with construction in areas of the West Bank designated under the Oslo peace accords.
"I say from here, in the clearest way possible, with God's help and with your help, we will establish settlements in (Palestinian) Area B and also in Area A, because both B and A are the Land of Israel, and we do not forget them," she said. "We have begun to repair all the damages of Oslo, we have started and succeeded far beyond what was expected, but we have not finished."
Revka Olshin, a resident who moved to the area with her children, said the presence of settlers had changed conditions along the nearby Route 60. "Before we were here there was nothing, and down here is Route 60 was the scariest place to drive and people were, stones were thrown here all the time," she said. "Since we're here, people feel that they can drive here."
The inauguration took place as Benjamin Netanyahu's government, described as the most ultranationalist and religious in Israel's history, has presided over a surge in settlement construction in the West Bank. The government views the territory as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.