OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced a government plan to allocate 2.7 billion shekels for the establishment of 17 new settlements in the occupied West Bank over the next five years, in a move described as an unprecedented escalation aimed at reinforcing and expanding settlements.
According to the plan’s details, 1.1 billion shekels will be earmarked for building and strengthening the new settlements, while 660 million shekels will be directed to the 17 settlements recently approved by the government, including Maalot Halhul, Sa-Nur and Mount Ebal.
Another 338 million shekels will go to 36 settlements and outposts undergoing regulation. These funds cover basic infrastructure such as water, sewage and electricity, along with public buildings like ritual baths, synagogues and community centers, all intended to consolidate Jewish presence in the West Bank.
In the new settlements, “absorption clusters” will also be built with about 20 caravans per site that will allow settler families to move in and create an initial core population.
The government will transfer about 300 million shekels to all the new settlements. 160 million will be used as an “establishment grant,” and 140 million for “organization and activity.”
Existing settlements will receive 434 million shekels distributed according to population size for infrastructure rehabilitation, along with 300 million shekels for settlement councils and settler authorities to fund projects and services.
An additional 140 million shekels will go towards opening new access roads, mainly to meet the Israeli army’s needs, and 150 million shekels over the next three years to upgrade armored settler buses.
The plan includes the relocation of three military bases to Palestinian areas in the northern West Bank after the Israeli army had previously withdrawn from under the Oslo Accords.
