JERUSALEM / Saeed Amouri / AA

The commander of the Israeli army's Central Command, Avi Blot, signed an order on Sunday turning the settlement of "Giv'at Ze'ev", built on Palestinian land northwest of Jerusalem, from a local council into a city officially, a step that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said aims to strengthen settlements and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In a step that falls within Israeli policies aimed at strengthening and expanding settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Hebrew Channel 7 (private) said the decision came following a period of coordination between entities in the Defense and Interior Ministries.

The step was described by Yossi Asraf, mayor of Giv'at Ze'ev, which is home to more than 35,000 settlers, as a "historic moment".

He considered that it would contribute to promoting growth and developing services within the settlement.

Turning the settlement into a city means expanding its administrative powers and increasing its government allocations, allowing for the acceleration of construction and urban expansion projects and attracting more settlers, amid Palestinian and international criticism of these policies.

For his part, the extremist minister Smotrich said that declaring Giv'at Ze'ev a city comes within the framework of a policy aimed at "strengthening settlements".

Smotrich pointed out that the Israeli government is working to expand settlements and legalize their status.

He mentioned that this step represents "strengthening the protective wall" against the establishment of a Palestinian state, in his words.

There was no Palestinian comment on the decision until 17:15 (GMT).

The United Nations and most countries of the world consider Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory illegal under international law, and see them as undermining the two-state solution.

The Israeli movement "Peace Now" estimates that there are about half a million settlers in the occupied West Bank, in addition to about 250,000 in settlements built in East Jerusalem.

Palestinians see such steps as part of an accelerated Israeli policy to impose facts on the ground, through expanding settlements and confiscating land, thereby hindering the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

In 1948, Israel was established on Palestinian land after the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and in 1967 it occupied the rest of the Palestinian territories, and it continues to control them to this day.