Israel advances 11 settlement plans for 895 units in West Bank

The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission identified 11 Israeli settlement plans adding 895 housing units across five governorates in the occupied West Bank. The largest is the expansion of Kedumim settlement on land belonging to Kafr Qaddum, with 288 units.

The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, a government body, said it had identified 11 Israeli settlement plans to add 895 housing units in the governorates of Qalqilya, Salfit and Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, Ramallah and al-Bireh in the center, and Hebron in the south, as well as in the Gush Etzion settlement council area.

The commission said in a statement carried by Anadolu Agency that the plans are not limited to residential construction. They also include expanding existing settlement neighborhoods, developing industrial and commercial areas, and converting agricultural land and open spaces into urban areas.

Kedumim leads the expansion

The plans are led by the expansion of a residential neighborhood in Kedumim settlement, built on land belonging to the town of Kafr Qaddum in Qalqilya governorate, with 288 housing units added across 158 dunams. This is the largest residential addition among the identified plans. The plans also include amending construction regulations in two industrial areas in Karnei Shomron settlement and converting one home into two in Oranit settlement.

Kedumim settlement homes built on land belonging to Kafr Qaddum, west of Nablus

In Salfit governorate, the plans include changing the areas where construction is permitted in Ariel settlement and expanding a residential neighborhood to its north by adding 98 units across about 61 dunams. In Nablus, a plan was identified to add 83 units in Alon Moreh settlement by converting agricultural land to residential use.

In Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate, the plans include adding 200 units in Talmon settlement as part of a project comprising a total of 288 units across 65 dunams. In Hebron, the commission identified a plan to add 225 units in Beit Hagai settlement and another to establish an industrial and commercial project in Kiryat Arba on agricultural land.

Ariel settlement on a hilltop surrounded by olive groves in Salfit governorate

Warning over severing Palestinian communities

The commission warned that these measures expand the settlement system, intensify pressure on Palestinian land, and limit the prospects for Palestinian communities to grow and maintain geographic contiguity.

On November 9, the commission announced that Israel had issued 28 tenders since the beginning of the year, including 18 tenders for the construction of 7,815 settlement units in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. According to its data, Israel seized or assumed control of about 64,000 dunams of West Bank land through 231 military orders and measures during the three years following the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023.

In a related development, Israeli rights organizations said Israeli authorities had rescheduled the opening of tenders for the construction of 2,167 units in the E1 area east of occupied Jerusalem to December 1. Critics warn that the project would sever the contiguity of Palestinian territory.

About 770,000 Israeli settlers live in hundreds of settlements and outposts in the West Bank, including 250,000 in East Jerusalem. Under Resolution 2334, adopted in 2016, the UN Security Council considers settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 to have no legal validity and to constitute a flagrant violation of international law.

Cover photo: Associated Press. Other photos: Wikimedia Commons

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Israel advances 11 settlement plans for 895 units in West Bank