On Wednesday, 11 March 2026, the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration is set to discuss the validation of 126 housing units in the settlement of Sha’arei Tikva (Plan 317/2/1).
The state of emergency and the war against Iran and Hezbollah have not halted the expansion of the settlements in the West Bank. Even during this period, we continue to monitor ongoing construction and the establishment of new outposts. The discussion in the Higher Planning Council is part of this broader trend.
.Including the upcoming discussion, the total number of housing units approved by the Council in 2026 stands at 2,534 units. The shift to a weekly approval process not only normalizes construction in the territories but also accelerates it. For example, in 2025 the Higher Planning Council advanced 27,941 settlement housing units, an unprecedented record since the establishment of the settlement enterprise in the West Bank.
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.