Israel's cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a pullout aimed at boosting the country's security and the economy, ‌Israeli ‌media reported.

The Palestinian Authority on Friday condemned the move, announced late on Thursday.

Some of the settlements are newly established, while others are older, ‍Israeli media said.

The move to legalise the settlements in the West Bank — territory Palestinians seek for a future state — was proposed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Most world powers deem Israel's settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal. Numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlem

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