NIS 152 Million for Planning New Settlements
TheMarker reported on June 9 that last week the government approved, via a telephone vote by cabinet ministers, the allocation of NIS 152 million to prepare construction plans for the new settlements it seeks to advance and establish.
The draft decision states that NIS 152,086,550 will be allocated to the Ministry of Housing for the purpose of “initial planning regularization” of 69 settlements that the government decided to regularize between 2023 and 2025, as well as for the preparation of regional spatial plans for the development of settlements in the West Bank.
These settlements include “neighborhoods” of existing settlements that have been granted the status of independent settlements; illegal outposts slated for regularization as independent settlements, some of which were established by the current government despite lacking legal authorization; and new settlements planned to be established.
The list of 69 settlements appears in the draft decision.
Approximately NIS 1 Billion for Establishing New Settlements Through a Planning Bypass
In addition to the decision to allocate funds for planning the outposts, which, according to the report, was approved last week, it was reported that the government is preparing a draft decision to allocate approximately NIS 1 billion for the establishment of the new settlements without going through the statutory planning process.
According to the report, the draft decision provides that the Settlement Division will receive hundreds of millions of shekels to establish “temporary sites” in the new settlements the government has decided to establish. At each “temporary site,” the Settlement Division will finance the installation of 15 residential caravans and two caravans for public-use facilities.
In addition, the draft decision allocates hundreds of millions of shekels to the Ministry of Housing to construct infrastructure (road construction, land preparation, sewage and water infrastructure, etc.) for those same new settlements. The draft also allocates millions of shekels for “community facilitators” who will accompany the “initial settlement nucleus” of each new settlement.
It should be noted that under the laws in force in the West Bank, the construction of any structures, including temporary structures and caravans, requires an approved building plan and building permits issued by the competent authorities. In the case of the new settlements approved by the government, most do not have approved building plans, and some do not even have available “state land” that could be allocated for planning purposes. It therefore appears that, in order to establish these settlements, the government intends to circumvent planning and construction laws, possibly by using military orders that allow permits to be granted for sites deemed to be of “national importance.”
Peace Now:
The government is on a reckless pre-election sprint to raid the public purse in order to create facts on the ground that will leave a scorched-earth reality for the next government. It is no coincidence that the Chief of Staff warned that the establishment of so many settlements would harm security and could bring the IDF to the point of collapse. October 7 proved that the right-wing approach has failed: the conflict cannot be “managed,” and the Palestinians cannot be “defeated.” Israel must reach a political solution and diplomatic agreement, but instead the government is only sinking us deeper into the mire and condemning us to many more years of bloody conflict.
Government Allocations to Settlements Have Risen to Approximately NIS 20.7 Billion
In March of this year, following the approval of the state budget, Peace Now estimated that the Netanyahu–Smotrich government had invested approximately NIS 19.3 billion in settlements.
Since that publication, the government has adopted a series of additional decisions that direct at least another NIS 1.358 billion to the settlements:
- On May 3, 2026, the government decided to allocate NIS 1.075 billion (one billion and seventy-five million shekels) for the construction of roads serving the new settlements that it has decided to establish.
- On the same day (May 3, 2026), the government also approved the allocation of NIS 131.1 million to “addressing violence,” for projects many of which, in practice, are intended to strengthen the settlements themselves.
- During the first week of June, the government approved, as noted above, the allocation of NIS 152.086 million for planning the new settlements that it has decided to establish.
- In addition to all of the above, in June 2026 the Knesset passed the Settlement Tax Benefits Law, which is expected to cost approximately NIS 130 million annually and provide settlers living in dozens of settlements with tax benefits worth thousands of shekels per month.
The New Settlements Approved by the Government: Taking Control of the Entire West Bank and Reducing Palestinian Space
Since the current government took office in December 2022, it has approved the establishment of 103 new settlements. Of these, 102 were approved through cabinet decisions, while one additional settlement, Tel Zion, was approved through a separate government decision in February 2023.
Of the 103 settlements:
- 17 are settlements that were previously considered “neighborhoods” of existing settlements and are now being granted independent status, enabling them to receive separate budgets and establish community committees.
- 51 are entirely new settlements.
- 35 are illegal outposts that are expected to undergo regularization and become official settlements.
For the full list of the settlements approved by the government and their coordinates, click here.