Israeli cabinet weighs new funding for West Bank settlement expansion

Israel has set aside an initial 152 million shekels for planning work linked to settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, according to an anti-settlement group. The group said the money is part of a wider funding push that could eventually reach 1 billion shekels, but that the larger allocation has been delayed for further cabinet consideration. The reported plan would support infrastructure and public buildings in settlements that are already regarded as illegal under international law.

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Peace Now said the first tranche covers planning for 69 settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank. It said the cabinet postponed a decision on the larger 1-billion-shekel allocation and referred it to the Security Cabinet, which is expected to meet on Sunday. The group said the proposed spending would begin before the necessary planning and construction procedures had been completed under Israeli law.

It accused the government of trying to bypass those regulations. The reported move comes amid renewed international scrutiny of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. On Tuesday, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and Norway imposed sanctions on networks they said were involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence against Palestinians.

On Wednesday, Amnesty International published a report accusing the Israeli government of playing a central role in what it described as the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The report said the government's actions were integral to that process. Settlement policy remains one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967, and most of the international community considers Israeli settlements there illegal. Any large new funding package would therefore carry legal, diplomatic and political consequences well beyond the immediate budget decision. It would also deepen concern among critics that the government is entrenching facts on the ground while political talks remain stalled.

Peace Now said the current Israeli government has approved 103 settlements since taking office in December 2022, including 51 that are entirely new. That figure is being used by settlement opponents to argue that the pace of expansion has accelerated under the present coalition. The group also linked the latest proposal to the aftermath of 7 October, saying the government's approach had failed and that a political solution was needed instead.

Those comments underline how the issue is being framed not only as a planning matter, but as part of a wider strategic debate inside Israel. What remains unclear is whether the 1-billion-shekel proposal will be approved by the Security Cabinet and, if so, how quickly any funds would be released. It is also not clear which specific settlements or outposts would receive the largest share of the money, or how the government would address the planning objections raised by Peace Now.

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