Sharp Increase in the Budget for Roads for Settlements

The Israeli government is investing billions of shekels in the development of roads for the settlements. In recent years, investment in infrastructure for these roads has increased by several hundred percent, with the goal of doubling the number of settlers. As Minister Smotrich stated, “Anyone who wants to bring a million settlers to Judea and Samaria must ensure there are roads.”

In 2023, the government allocated at least 790 million NIS for inter-urban roads to settlements, significantly exceeding the original budget of approximately 443 million NIS. Similarly, in 2022, the actual expenditure amounted to around 700 million NIS, compared to the initial budget of roughly 560 million NIS. For 2024, the original budget for settlement roads was set at 513.6 million NIS (with the implementation budget still pending publication by the Ministry of Finance).

Calculation Methodology:

The data is derived from the Ministry of Finance’s “Fiscal Digital” files and an examination of all budgetary regulations within the Ministry of Transportation’s road budget (work plan number 007951). This data exclusively includes roads that have a specific budgetary allocation. In cases where the regulation is more general, such as for “high risk roads,” “road maintenance,” or “planning and promoting accessibility,” it is not possible to determine how much of the funding is designated for the territories versus Israel proper.

7 Billion NIS for Roads to Settlements in the Next Five Years:

In April 2023, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transportation signed a budget summary that included a five-year plan for roads. Under this plan, 3.89 billion NIS were allocated for roads to settlements, out of a total of 16.5 billion NIS designated for the entire country. In January 2024, a draft budget proposal was presented to the government, detailing the planned cuts to road funding. The cuts included a reduction of the settlement roads budget to 2.9 billion NIS, though the final government decision was made without specifying which roads would be affected by the cuts.

In June 2024, Finance Minister Smotrich announced that he and the Minister of Transportation had agreed on a budget of approximately 7 billion NIS “for roads in Judea and Samaria over the next five years”.

List of Roads to Settlements (Budget execution, excluding 2024), in Millions of NIS:

For more detailed information on the specific roads, see here.