loading

Advancement of 855 Housing Units in the West Bank

The Higher Planning Council is set to discuss the approval of 1, housing units on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 in the settlements Givat Zeev, Kfar Tapuach, Talmon, Maale Amos.

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 15,190 housing units in less than four months. All-time record. The previous record year was 2023 with the advancement of 12,349 housing units in that same year.

 

Settlement Plans Overview

Settlement Plan Number Plan Status Number of Units
Givat Zeev 8/ 10/ 220 Deposit 12
Givat Zeev 3/ 23/ 220 Deposit 4
Kfar Tapuch 6/ 131 Final Approval 105
Talmon/Harasha 2/ 9/ 235 Deposit 464
Talmon 3/ 9/ 235 Deposit 194
Maale Amos 2/ 4/ 413 Final Approval 76
Total     855

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.