Advancement of 576 Housing Units in West Bank Settlements

The Higher Planning Council is scheduled to convene on Wednesday (17 June 2026) to discuss the advancement of 576 housing units in the settlements of Almatan (Plan No. 116/5/3) and Mitzpe Jericho (Plan No. 228/6). Including the plans under discussion, the cumulative number of housing units approved by the Council in 2026 will reach 6,808.

Adjacent to the planned neighborhood in Almatan, in Wadi Qana, was the Palestinian community of Arab al-Khuli / Ein Kafr Qara. The community had lived on privately owned Palestinian land for decades and endured years of settler harassment and attacks. In February 2026, the last remaining Palestinian residents were displaced from the community. In May 2026 settlers demolished the remaining structures on the site.

Settlement Plans Overview

Since November 2024, the Higher Planning Council has been holding weekly meetings to advance housing units in settlements. The shift to a weekly approval process not only normalizes settlement construction in the occupied territory but also accelerates its pace. In 2025 alone, the Higher Planning Council advanced plans for 27,941 housing units, an unprecedented record and the highest annual figure since the establishment of the settlement enterprise in the West Bank.

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.

List of Plans Approved Since January 2026