The Supreme Planning Council will discuss on Wednesday (12/02/25) the promotion of 1124 housing units in three settlements; Beitar Illit, Adora and Hananit. As a reminder, since the beginning of December 2024, weekly discussions have been held to promote housing units in the settlements, and in this way more than 4,000 housing units have already been promoted in the settlements. One of the plans seeks to establish a new neighborhood on the ruins of a Palestinian community that was violently expelled by soldiers and settlers in October 2023.
Plan for 287 housing units in Adora on the ruins of a Palestinian community that was expelled
Plan 516/3/1, which will be submitted for approval for deposit, plans to establish a new and large neighborhood of 287 housing units east of the Adora settlement, which will effectively double the size of the isolated settlement located northwest of Hebron. In the area of the plan, settlers recently established a new outpost of a caravan neighborhood (Adora East Outpost), and the plan seeks to legalize it retrospectively. The outpost was built on the ruins of the Palestinian community of Khirbet a-Taybah, which was violently expelled by soldiers and settlers in October 2023, as described in the residents’ testimony to B’Tselem:
Khirbet a-Taybah, Tarqumya: The community was home to 10 families numbering 47 people in total, including six minors. Another four families, consisting of eight adults in total, lived in it depending on the season. On 7 October 2023, settlers and soldiers arrived and notified the residents they had to leave because the site was declared a firing zone. All 10 families that lived in the community permanently left that day, but the families that lived there seasonally continued to come during the day to graze their flocks and spend the night back in Tarqumya. On 11 October 2023, several residents tried to go home to check on their property, but settlers blocked their way. On the morning of 17 October, the residents managed to reach their land and found 11 residential and agricultural shacks demolished and agricultural equipment stolen. Soldiers who noticed them drove them away. On 12 November 2023, at 12:00 P.M., soldiers arrived at the community and informed the families there on a seasonal basis that they, too, must leave otherwise their homes would be demolished and they would be forcefully removed, but the families did not leave. On 21 November, soldiers again came to the community and threatened members of these families at gunpoint. As a result, the four families left, too. On 4 January 2024, at 4:00 P.M., residents currently living in the town of Tarqumya saw smoke rising from their community. They climbed a hill overlooking the area and saw settlers had destroyed and burned four agricultural structures and furniture they left behind, and spotted a settlement security vehicle on the premises.
| Settlement | Plan Status | Plan Number | Housing Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beitar Illit | Validation | 5/8/426 | 561 |
| Adora | Deposit | 1/3/516 | 287 |
| Hinanit | Deposit | 7/101 | 267 |
| Total | 1,124 |
The Other plans on the agenda
The construction plan in Beitar Illit for 561 units is located at the western edge of the settlement and is expected to strangle the Palestinian village of Wadi Fukin. The details of the plan for 267 units in the settlement of Hinanit, northwest of Jenin were yet to be published.
The shift to approving plans on a weekly basis not only normalizes construction in these areas but also accelerates it. For instance, with the plans set for discussion on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, the total number of units promoted since the transition to weekly approvals will reach 5,394 HU for two and half months.
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.