Smotrich says Israel has begun new settlement expansion push
The Israeli minister’s statement follows cabinet approval for 13 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reported.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel has started what he called a “revolution in settlement” construction, according to Al Jazeera. His statement followed cabinet approval for 13 new settlements in the central occupied West Bank, a move Palestinian officials say would further weaken prospects for a future Palestinian state.
Smotrich, a far-right minister, made the declaration in a post on X, Al Jazeera reported. He said the push would extend illegal outposts beyond the occupied West Bank into the Negev and Galilee.
The new settlements approved by the Israeli cabinet are considered illegal under international law, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli officials say the sites will help strengthen Israel’s control over the occupied Palestinian territory.
Focus on key West Bank corridors
Al Jazeera reported that the plan centers on strategically important areas along Route 60, the main north-south road connecting Palestinian cities including Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem. The project also reaches east toward the Jordan Valley, according to the report.
Palestinian officials have warned that the expansion would further cut occupied East Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank, Al Jazeera reported. East Jerusalem has long been regarded by Palestinians as the capital of a future state.
Settlement activity has increased since 2022, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed what Al Jazeera described as the most far-right government in Israel’s history. The government includes ministers who are leading figures in the settler movement, according to Al Jazeera.
The Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies, known as MADAR, said state funding for settlement expansion has risen sharply. According to figures cited by Al Jazeera, outpost construction averaged about eight a year from 2012 to 2022, rose to 32 in 2023, reached 62 in 2024 with 75 million shekels, or $20 million, in government backing, and climbed to 86 in 2025.
About 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, with another 250,000 in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Al Jazeera. Those settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Reports of settler violence rise
Al Jazeera reported that settlement expansion has coincided with rising settler attacks on Palestinians. A United Nations inquiry found a 130 percent increase in Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land in the West Bank since 2023, according to the report.
On Friday, settlers destroyed the main electricity line in al-Maniya, cutting power to the village and causing panic, Al Jazeera reported. The same day, settlers damaged greenhouses near Tulkarem and seized control of the Ein Rawabi spring northeast of Jerusalem, which dozens of Bedouin families use to water 1,300 sheep, according to the report.
The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission documented 1,659 attacks by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank in May, according to Al Jazeera. The commission said settlers were directly responsible for 551 incidents, with violence concentrated in Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron.
The commission also reported the destruction, uprooting or burning of 7,222 trees in May, including more than 3,300 olive trees, Al Jazeera said. Israeli authorities carried out 70 demolition operations that month, destroying 155 Palestinian structures across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, with 50 structures demolished in the Jerusalem governorate, according to the report.
Since October 8, 2023, violence by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank has killed 1,175 Palestinians and injured 12,919, Al Jazeera reported. About 24,000 Palestinians have been arrested and 33,000 displaced from their homes in the same period, according to the report.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.