Israel approves $434 million plan to build, develop Judea and Samaria towns

The decision also instructs government ministries to accelerate statutory planning, infrastructure development, and the allocation of land and budgets needed for the permanent communities.

By JNS

The Israeli Cabinet approved a 1.3 billion shekel ($434 million) plan to establish and develop dozens of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday.

“Together with [Settlements and National Missions] Minister Orit Strook, we formulated a decision that will enable the rapid establishment of communities through pioneer neighborhoods in the coming days, in parallel with the permanent development process of the communities,” Smotrich wrote on X.

“While [Gadi] Eisenkot and Yair Golan are planning to destroy, we are building more and more,” he added, referencing two leaders of the opposition camp running in the Oct. 27 election.

According to the Cabinet decision, which was adopted on June 14 and first published by Channel 12 News on Tuesday, the government will finance rapid initial construction consisting of prefabricated buildings, including up to 15 homes and two public buildings at each location.

The Settlements and National Missions Ministry and the Ministry of Construction and Housing will lead the effort under the supervision of a steering committee of senior government officials.

The funding implements a March Cabinet decision approving dozens of new communities across Samaria, the Binyamin region, the Jordan Valley, Gush Etzion, and the Dead Sea area.

The decision also instructs government ministries to accelerate statutory planning, infrastructure development, and the allocation of land and budgets needed for the permanent communities.

The funding plan was approved alongside a separate Cabinet decision authorizing a new Jewish community near Sa-Nur in northern Samaria, Smotrich said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We are carrying out a historic revolution in Judea and Samaria that will prevent the establishment of a terror state in the heart of Israel: 104 communities and more than 160 farms that will serve as a protective shield for Ra’anana, Tel Aviv, Givatayim, Jerusalem, and the entire State of Israel,” Smotrich said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has led an unprecedented drive to expand Israel’s control of Judea and Samaria, having approved tens of thousands of homes and dozens of new communities in the past three-and-a-half years.

Strook called on Monday for building new Jewish communities throughout all of Judea and Samaria, including in Palestinian Authority-administered areas.

The Religious Zionist Party minister, a member of the Security Cabinet, told Arutz Sheva that the government led by Netanyahu had reversed what she described as much of the damage caused by the Oslo Accords signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s, as well as the 2005 disengagement from northern Samaria.

However, Strook said, “This entire land is ours—not only Area C, but also Areas B and A.”

The 1995 Oslo II agreement broke the disputed territories into three areas: A, B, and C. Area C falls under Israeli jurisdiction, while areas A and B are controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

Strook said there were “1.3 million dunams [130,000 hectares, or about 320,000 acres] of land not used for any settlement.” She argued that Jerusalem “needs to take them because they are ours,” adding that the Jewish state now “needs to move into Area A.