Security cabinet approves 13 West Bank ‘neighborhoods’ to become independent settlements – The Times of Israel
ISRAEL AT WAR – DAY 534
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The security cabinet has approved a decision to split off 13 so-called “neighborhoods” of existing West Bank settlements from their “mother settlement,” thereby turning them into 13 independent settlements.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who advanced the security cabinet’s decision in his additional role as a minister in the Defense Ministry, described the move on Sunday as an important step to the path of “de facto [Israeli] sovereignty” over the West Bank.
The “neighborhoods” in question were built many years, and even decades, ago, as illegal settlement outposts, that is, without formal cabinet approval.
Some of these outposts were retroactively legalized by the government by way of approving building plans for the construction of a new neighborhood for an authorized and legal settlement at the site of the illegal outpost, even when, as in many cases, that outpost was several kilometers from the original settlement.
This was all done at a time when Israel was cautious about the diplomatic consequences of settlement expansion, and therefore built the so-called settlements as “neighborhoods” to disguise the reality of settlement expansion.
The decision to now formally split off the neighborhoods as new settlements allows the government to provide budgets for each of them individually, as opposed to designating money for it through its old mother settlements. They will also all get their own municipal councils.
The new settlements were Alon, Haresha, Kerem Reim, Neriya, Migron, Shvut Rachel, Ovnat, Brosh Habika, Leshem, Nofei Nehemia, Tal Menashe, Ibei Hanahal and Gvaot.
Smotrich charged that the previous situation caused those neighborhoods “great difficulties in their daily management,” and that the new step will help them to “advance and develop.”
“We are continuing to lead a revolution in the normalization and formalization of settlements,” the head of the Religious Zionism party wrote on X. “Instead of hiding and apologizing we are raising the flag, building and settling. This is another important step on the way to de facto [Israeli] sovereignty in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank].”
Smotrich is open in his desire to permanently stymie the establishment of a Palestinian state and for Israel to annex large swaths of the West Bank and Gaza.
While the international community considers all settlements illegal, Israel differentiates between settlement homes built and permitted by the Defense Ministry on land owned by the state, and illegal outposts built without the necessary permits, often on private Palestinian land. In recent years, though, the government has increasingly sought to regulate the wildcat outposts, rather than demolish them.
Earlier this month, the left-wing Peace Now organization reported that a record number of illegal settlement outposts were established in 2024 and the year saw an all-time high for land appropriation.
The organization’s annual review of settlement activity noted that a record 59 illegal outposts, groups of structures not authorized by the government, were set up across the West Bank in 2024, while more land in the territory was declared “state land” — making it available for residential, commercial or agricultural development — than in any year since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.
In 2017, Peace Now published a study called “Unraveling the Mechanism Behind Illegal Outposts,” detailing the methods through which illegal settlement outposts are established, including through the assistance of local settlement municipal authorities and non-governmental organizations, and the failure of law enforcement agencies to investigate such activity.
Last year, Settlement and National Projects Minister Orit Strock — a lawmaker from Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party — told residents of a newly recognized West Bank settlement that she was delighted by the “miracle period” of settlement expansion ushered in by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we’ll remove all ads from your page and you’ll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Today’s Daily Briefing
Day 534 – Why Columbia U is a lightening rod for anti-Israel activism
Those We
Are
Missing
The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown
Those We Have Lost
Stories of the civilians and soldiers who have fallen since Oct. 7
OUR WORK IS
JUST BEGINNING
Sponsored
&
Wartime Diaries
Voices and testimonies of these devastating times
© 2025 The Times of Israel, all rights reserved
source
This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The security cabinet has approved a decision to split off 13 so-called “neighborhoods” of existing West Bank settlements from their “mother settlement,” thereby turning them into 13 independent settlements.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who advanced the security cabinet’s decision in his additional role as a minister in the Defense Ministry, described the move on Sunday as an important step to the path of “de facto [Israeli] sovereignty” over the West Bank.
The “neighborhoods” in question were built many years, and even decades, ago, as illegal settlement outposts, that is, without formal cabinet approval.
Some of these outposts were retroactively legalized by the government by way of approving building plans for the construction of a new neighborhood for an authorized and legal settlement at the site of the illegal outpost, even when, as in many cases, that outpost was several kilometers from the original settlement.
This was all done at a time when Israel was cautious about the diplomatic consequences of settlement expansion, and therefore built the so-called settlements as “neighborhoods” to disguise the reality of settlement expansion.
The decision to now formally split off the neighborhoods as new settlements allows the government to provide budgets for each of them individually, as opposed to designating money for it through its old mother settlements. They will also all get their own municipal councils.
The new settlements were Alon, Haresha, Kerem Reim, Neriya, Migron, Shvut Rachel, Ovnat, Brosh Habika, Leshem, Nofei Nehemia, Tal Menashe, Ibei Hanahal and Gvaot.
Smotrich charged that the previous situation caused those neighborhoods “great difficulties in their daily management,” and that the new step will help them to “advance and develop.”
“We are continuing to lead a revolution in the normalization and formalization of settlements,” the head of the Religious Zionism party wrote on X. “Instead of hiding and apologizing we are raising the flag, building and settling. This is another important step on the way to de facto [Israeli] sovereignty in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank].”
Smotrich is open in his desire to permanently stymie the establishment of a Palestinian state and for Israel to annex large swaths of the West Bank and Gaza.
While the international community considers all settlements illegal, Israel differentiates between settlement homes built and permitted by the Defense Ministry on land owned by the state, and illegal outposts built without the necessary permits, often on private Palestinian land. In recent years, though, the government has increasingly sought to regulate the wildcat outposts, rather than demolish them.
Earlier this month, the left-wing Peace Now organization reported that a record number of illegal settlement outposts were established in 2024 and the year saw an all-time high for land appropriation.
The organization’s annual review of settlement activity noted that a record 59 illegal outposts, groups of structures not authorized by the government, were set up across the West Bank in 2024, while more land in the territory was declared “state land” — making it available for residential, commercial or agricultural development — than in any year since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.
In 2017, Peace Now published a study called “Unraveling the Mechanism Behind Illegal Outposts,” detailing the methods through which illegal settlement outposts are established, including through the assistance of local settlement municipal authorities and non-governmental organizations, and the failure of law enforcement agencies to investigate such activity.
Last year, Settlement and National Projects Minister Orit Strock — a lawmaker from Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party — told residents of a newly recognized West Bank settlement that she was delighted by the “miracle period” of settlement expansion ushered in by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we’ll remove all ads from your page and you’ll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Today’s Daily Briefing
Day 534 – Why Columbia U is a lightening rod for anti-Israel activism
Those We
Are
Missing
The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown
Those We Have Lost
Stories of the civilians and soldiers who have fallen since Oct. 7
OUR WORK IS
JUST BEGINNING
Sponsored
&
Wartime Diaries
Voices and testimonies of these devastating times
© 2025 The Times of Israel, all rights reserved
source
This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
