The Higher Planning Council is set to discuss the approval of 1,211 housing units on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Among these, two major plans in the Ma’ale Amos settlement (a total of 561 house units) will expand the settlement northward.
Since early December 2024, the Higher Planning Council has been holding weekly meetings to advance housing projects in the settlements. The shift to a weekly approval process not only normalizes construction in the territories but also accelerates it. Since the beginning of 2025, including the plans slated for approval next week, the council has advanced a total of 10,167 housing units in less than three months.
Settlement Plans Overview
| Settlement | Plan Number | Plan Status | Number of Units |
| Ma’ale Amos | 1/5/413 | Final Approval | 409 |
| Ma’ale Amos | 1/1/5/413 | Final Approval | 152 |
| Etz Efraim | 6/126 | Final Approval | 252 |
| Mitzpe Shalem | 8/607 | Deposit Stage | 168 |
| Beitar Illit | 1/2/A/7/426 | Deposit Stage | 230 |
| Total | 1,211 |
One of the changes made by the Netanyahu-Smotrich government in June 2023 was the elimination of the need for defense minister approval for each stage of settlement plan advancement. Previously, every construction plan in settlements required prior approval from the defense minister. In recent years, the defense minister had limited settlement plan advancements to approximately four times a year, with thousands of housing units being approved in a single session of the Higher Planning Council. In recent weeks, we have witnessed a change where the Higher Planning Council meets every week and approves several hundred housing units in each meeting. In this way, the government seeks to normalize planning in settlements and attract less public and international attention and criticism.