Israel’s Security Cabinet has approved a plan to establish 13 new settlements in the Binyamin region of the central occupied West Bank, drawing warnings from Palestinian officials that the project would further fragment Palestinian territory and isolate East Jerusalem from nearby Palestinian communities.
The plan falls under the Binyamin Regional Council and focuses on two corridors: areas northwest of Jerusalem and west of Ramallah along Route 60, and land extending east toward the Jordan Valley.
The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said the first phase is expected in the coming months and would include four to six settlements, while several existing pastoral outposts are expected to be formalised. The Binyamin Regional Council described the initiative as involving millions of shekels in investment.
The governorate said the scheme focuses on two corridors: areas northwest of Jerusalem and west of Ramallah along Route 60, and land stretching east towards the Jordan Valley.
“The plan seeks to create new geographical realities on the ground,” the governorate said, warning that the expansion would “undermine the prospects of establishing a geographically contiguous Palestinian state.”
Palestinian officials described the approval as a dangerous escalation and a violation of international law. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal under international law.
The latest approval comes as settlement activity has accelerated. Data cited by the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies, known as MADAR, showed new settlement outposts rose from an annual average of about eight between 2012 and 2022 to 32 in 2023, 62 in 2024 and 86 in 2025.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory Israel captured in the 1967 war.
