Since Trump’s Election: Unprecedented Surge in Settlement Plan Approvals

In a remarkable shift, the Higher Planning Council has approved more construction plans in the past three months than in all of 2024.

Between January 1 and March 19, 2025, a total of 10,503 housing units were promoted, surpassing the 9,971 units approved throughout the entirety of 2024. This Wednesday another 1,344 units are scheduled for approval.

This dramatic acceleration follows a significant change in policy. In June 2023, the Netanyahu-Smotrich government removed the direct oversight of the political echelon over settlement planning. Prior to this, every stage in the approval process required the Minister of Defense’s approval. In November 2024, after the election of President Trump, the rate of plan approvals increased markedly: the Planning Council transitioned from quarterly meetings to weekly sessions, approving hundreds of housing units at a time. This shift appears to be part of the government’s strategy to normalize settlement planning, reduce domestic and international scrutiny, and capitalize on the global focus on Gaza to rapidly advance settlement expansion. It seems that the government is seeking to “fill the planning reserves” with as many approved plans as possible, ensuring the potential for extensive future development.

Peace Now: “Instead of caring for the hostages and ensuring Israel’s security, the Netanyahu-Smotrich government is deepening the conflict and further sabotaging any chance for a peaceful resolution. The government is pushing forward plans on an unprecedented scale across the West Bank, that will ultimately come at a great cost to all Israelis in the form of prolonged violence and enormous financial burdens.”

Changes within the Higher Planning Council and the Civil Administration

A key development in the planning process occurred in October 2024, when Yehuda Alkalai, the former engineer of the Shomron Settlement Regional Council, was appointed head of the Civil Administration’s Planning Bureau. Reports indicate that Minister Bezalel Smotrich advocated for Alkalai’s appointment to help accelerate the settlement expansion process. Alkalai’s appointment has been followed by an extraordinary pace of plan approvals, sometimes within days of being presented to the Planning Council. This acceleration is partly attributed to a more lenient approach regarding the fulfillment of prerequisites before a plan is brought for discussion.

Alkalai’s rapid approval process aligns with the broader strategy of annexation pursued by the current government. Smotrich has established the Settlement Administration and bolstered it with legal advisors who replace the Civil Administration’s legal staff—who, according to Smotrich, have “a completely different DNA“—a move that appears to be facilitating actions previously unfeasible. Additionally, the inclusion of a representative from the Ministry of Settlement on the Higher Planning Council further politicizes the planning process, enabling quicker decisions in favor of settlement expansion.

A notable example of the changes can be seen in Plan No. 512/2, which aims to legalize dozens of homes built illegally decades ago in the Otniel settlement, located south of Hebron. The plan, which would add 156 housing units to the settlement, had been stalled for years because the roads to it passes on private Palestinian land. In January 2025, however, the plan was brought to the Higher Planning Council and the architect presented it said: “the plan has not been advanced to date because of land issues. Now that the problems have been resolved, it is being advanced.”

The “solution” approved by the legal advice is that the plan stipulates that bridges will be built over the private land, thus making it possible to connect the neighborhood to the settlement. It is worth noting that in addition to the fact that building a bridge also violates the property of the landowners, the settlers who live in houses that have already been built illegally in the neighborhood have been traveling daily for years on roads that were paved within private land without interference. It is hard to believe that anyone would invest the effort and money in building the bridges when they could simply continue the grabbing.

The approved plans – deepening the Occupation all the way to annexation

The vast majority of approved plans in recent months involve settlements deep within the West Bank, with far-reaching implications for Palestinian territorial continuity and the viability of a future Palestinian state. The construction of 10,000 new housing units is projected to accommodate an additional 40,000 to 50,000 settlers.

Key approvals include new neighborhoods in settlements such as Itamar (284 units), Yakir (464 units), Kochav Yaakov (1,016 units), Asfar (509 units), and Ma’ale Amos (561 units).

Plan 516/3/1, which was approved for deposit, plans to establish a new and large neighborhood of 292 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 (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.

Perhaps most notably, in the settlement of Talmon, west of Ramallah, plans for 1,628 housing units have been approved over the past three months, significantly expanding both the area and settler population. Along with additional plans recently greenlit, Talmon could soon become a settlement of tens of thousands of residents.

List of Plans Approved Since January 2025