Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is continuing efforts to build “fast track” settlements in the occupied West Bank, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Monday.
The efforts to expand settlements have continued despite US threats over settler activity in the West Bank.
Since the beginning of December, the Smotrich-headed Settlement Administration has approved dozens of settlement units per week, with 2,377 settlement units having been advanced in the last six weeks by the Supreme Planning Council.
The Settlement Administration, which operates as a unit of the Defence Ministry, has merged the meetings of the Civil Administration’s Supreme Planning Council, which met once every three months and approved large numbers of settlement units, and smaller meetings which met more frequently but approved smaller numbers.
Smotrich is seeking to normalise land seizures through weekly settlement building permits, which normally take months for approval.
The new system under Smotrich is expected to significantly increase the number of settlement units approved in 2025. According to data cited by Yedioth Ahronoth, 12,349 units were approved in 2023, with a slight decrease seen in 2024, when 9,884 were approved.
Smotrich was charged with responsibility over settlement expansion in June 2023, allowing the minister to work without seeking the approval of the prime minister.
Israeli advocacy group Peace Now described the moves as “another step towards de facto annexation by the Israeli government”.
“This systematic approach aims to normalise settlement planning and attract less public and international attention and criticism,” the group said.
Approximately 380,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, according to figures from Israeli human rights group B’tselem.
