As Israel announced a series of plans to expand settlements in and around Jerusalem, the conferring of official university status upon a college located in an illegal Israeli settlement also made headlines, highlighting Israeli intransigence and unwillingness to part with the occupied West Bank.

The decision gives the newly accredited Ariel University Center the same status and privileges as the other seven universities based within Israel proper, even though it is located across the Green Line. The settlement of Ariel, home to the newly minted university, is located some 20 kilometers (12 miles) inside the West Bank. It is closer to the Palestinian city of Nablus (the largest in the West Bank) than any Israeli population center, underscoring exactly just how far-flung its placement is from what the international community defines as Israel’s borders.

The upgrade was first approved in July by the Judea and Samaria Council for Higher Education, which was established in 1997, when the Council for Higher Education (the academic body responsible for accreditation in Israel proper) refused to deal with academic institutions built on occupied Palestinian land.

Toward the end of December, Israel’s attorney general gave the go-ahead for the status elevation, noting that there is “nothing preventing the Ariel University Center from being recognized as an accredited university.” This prompted the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to approve the move via the head of the army’s Central Command, which acts as the main governing body for Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.