Israel Continues Whitewashing Terrorist Farms and Outposts and Transferring It into New Settlements

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
Settlement Weekly Report 20 – 26 Dec. 2025

The ‘National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that Israel has been widely criticized for disregarding international law and/or international legitimacy, continues to act as a State above the law, with strong backing from the United States. Last Sunday, its Security Cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move that violates international laws and norms. Bezalel Smotrich, FM & Minister of Settlement Affairs at the Army Ministry, described the decision as ‘historic, aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. With this latest approval, the total number of settlements sanctioned in the last 3 years rises to 69.
The settlements approved by the Cabinet are scattered across various West Bank Governorates. They are settlements that were dismantled in 2005, outposts, terrorist pastoral farms,´-or-neighborhoods of existing settlements that have been -convert-ed into settlements, with all the associated rights and budgets as follows: the retroactively authorization of the Keda outpost west of the Doma village, ‘Ish-Kadosh outpost’ south of the Jalood and Qosra villages, Nablus, Givat Harel settlement approved in 2023, located between the Sinjil and Al-Lubban Sharqia towns, between Nablus and Ramallah Governorates, Mishul outpost east of the Na aleh settlement, between the villages of Ras Karkar and Deir Ammar, west of Ramallah, Reihanit outpost in the northwestern West Bank, near the Reihan settlement near the Ya bad town, Jenin.
The Rosh HaAyin outp[ost east of the villages of Az-Zawiya and Deir Ballut, Salfeet, Bnei Kadem outpost east of the Sa ir town, Hebron, Yatziv ‘Shadma’ outpost near the Beit Sahour city, Bethlehem, Ya ar-Qarn outpost between Beit Ammar and Al-Arroub Refugee Camp, Bethlehem, Allenby outpost in the Jordan Valley, Jericho, Kokav HaShachar North, east of Ein Samia in Ramallah, Nof Gilad in the Um ZuqaNnature Reserve in the Jordan Valley, Yitav West, near the Bedouin community of Ras Al-Ein, which faces frequent threats and the risk of displacement, Bezek, also known as Mount Bezek 713, the highest peak between the Jordan Valley and the hills of the Jenin Governorate, Tamun on a hill near Tamun in the Tubas Governorate-;- Shalem, near Beit Dajan and Beit Furik in the Nablus Governorate, Wadi Duran an uninhabited area between the settlements of Shima and Adoraim, west of the Dura city, Hebron, and Ganim a settlement, east of Jenin, and Kadim a settlement both evacuated under the 2005 disengagement plan, east of Jenin.
The approval was part of a trend led by Netanyahu s government to legitimize settlement outposts and transform them into official settlements, followed by previous decisions that included separating settlement neighborhoods from larger settlements and -convert-ing scores of outposts into established settlements, thus expanding Israeli control deep into the West Bank. Some of the ‘settlements-;- that have been regularized, including Ganim and Kadim, date back to the 1980s, before becoming isolated enclaves within Areas A and B after the Oslo Accords.
The settlements sever Palestinian geographical contiguity in the northern West Bank, in an area that was subject to a ban on Israeli presence under the ‘Disengagement Law’, which led in 2005 to the dismantling and evacuation of 4 settlements in the area. The land on which the Ganim and Kadim settlements were built is located adjacent to Jenin, in the area where the Israeli army carried out a military operation called ‘Five Stones’ under the pretext of escalating ‘security threats’ in the region. Although the ‘full legalization’ of these settlements may take years, this step laid the groundwork for a gradual return of settlers to the new settlements under the protection of the army. Though since the formation of the Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben-Gvir government, the cabinet has approved the legalization of settlement outposts 3 times.
In Feb. 2023, the legalization of 9 outposts was approved, including Givat Arnon and Shacharit in the northern West Bank. In June 2024, the legalization of 5 outposts was approved, including Evitar, also in the northern West Bank, and in May 2025, the legalization of 22 outposts was approved, including Sanur and Homesh. It appeared that at least 3 names of other settlement outposts in the northern West Bank were put forward on the list, some of which are located on the borders of Area B.
According to the Haaretz Newspaper, informed sources estimate that the resettlement of settlers in the northern West Bank should be done in coordination with the United States. Within this context, the newspaper referred to a tour undertaken by a delegation consisting of 250 congress members, and Senate from 50 US states last Sept. following the recognition of the Palestinian State by a number of Western countries.
The policy of -convert-ing outposts and illegal grazing farms into settlements has been accompanied by plans to expand existing settlements with hundreds of new housing units. On Tuesday evening, Smotrich announced the signing of an agreement with the Army Minister Yisrael Katz to relocate Israeli army bases outside the Beit Eil settlement, a move that would effectively double the settlement s size. Beit Eil is a settlement built on land belonging to the cities of al-Bireh and Ramallah, and it houses the headquarters of the Civil Administration, a branch of the Ministry of Army that serves as the military governing body in the West Bank.
Smotrich stated via the X Network platform: ‘Today I signed an agreement to evacuate army camps from the Beit Eil settlement.’ A move that allows for the construction of 1,200 new housing units in the settlement and nearly double its land area. Katz, also indicated his government s intention to begin construction of 1,200 new settlement units in Beit Eil during a field visit to the settlement. He emphasized that settlement construction is continuing at an accelerating pace and that work is underway to establish additional settlement outposts as part of the so-called -;-Nahal project.’
That will be within the context of broader plans to rebuild settlements and Israeli army camps in the northern West Bank, including the construction of a new bypass road serving these plans, in the vicinity of the Silat al-Dhahr town, north of Nablus. In a new vision, Katz clarified that Israel won’t withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip and pledged that the army would establish military youth centers at ‘Nahal sites’ in the north, before backtracking on this under pressure. An American fears the collapse of Trump s plan for the Gaza Strip. There is no military settlement in the Gaza Strip ‘Nahal’, but that doesn’t apply to the West Bank, as the Minister of the Occupation Army entered into competition with Bezalel Smotrich, the ‘Nahal settlement’ is a military settlement in parallel with Smotrich s terrorist outposts and farms.
For its part, the Israeli Yediot Aharonot Newspaper reported that the Israeli government has approved the return of settlers to the settlement of Sanur in the northern West Bank at the beginning of March. The report stated that Katz and Smotrich reached an agreement with the Central Command of the Israeli army to resettle a core group of families evacuated as part of the 2005 disengagement plan, then Smotrich instructed his staff to construct 126 settlement units in the abovementioned settlement.
In another front, Smotrich, threatened to deduct funds from the Palestinian Authority s tax revenues if it didn’t remove what he called ‘waste being burned in the West Bank. He also announced the initiation of a ‘national emergency plan’ to address the phenomenon. This came in light of a meeting Smotrich held with Katz to discuss what he termed ‘the threat of Arab waste fires in Judea and Samaria ‘the biblical name for the occupied West Bank’.
The meeting was attended by Israeli officials, including heads of settlement councils, officials from the Ministry of Health, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, security leaders, and representatives of so-called law enforcement agencies. Smotrich claimed that this was a widespread and dangerous phenomenon, constituting a serious and ongoing threat to the environment, quality of life, and the health of the area s residents, referring to the settlers.
He stated that the attendees had decided to define the phenomenon as a ‘threat to national security’ and announced the preparation of an ‘immediate and long-term emergency plan’, led by Katz, the Ministry of Finance, the settlement councils, and so-called law enforcement agencies. This plan includes allocating unlimited budgets to recruit private contractors and heavy equipment to extinguish the fires and remove the waste, with the costs to be deducted from the Palestinian Authority s funds.
In a provocative tone, Smotrich said that ‘the so-called environmental terrorism proves that the Green Line is an illusion, and when Judea and Samaria become the backyard of the State of Israel, the entire Israeli population suffers.’ He added, ‘We are erasing the Green Line and we bear the responsibility,’ and vowed to eliminate the phenomenon through strict enforcement, waste removal, harsh and painful fines, and, of course, by imposing costs on the Palestinian Authority.
For years, the Israeli Occupation Suthorities have obstructed a German project to establish a landfill in the Ramallah area. At the time, they stipulated that Israeli settlements would also use the landfill to dispose of their waste, a condition Berlin rejected. This escalation comes amidst a reality where they impose extensive restrictions on the West Bank, including the control and confiscation of vast areas of land, and the control of infrastructure and services, all within the context of ongoing aggression.
It coincides with Israel s continued financial restrictions on the Palestinian Authority through the withholding of tax revenues, which-limit-s its ability to develop independent service and environmental infrastructure and subsequently used to justify further punitive measures against it.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Smotrich s ministry has seized Palestinian clearance funds under various pretexts for the benefit of its settlement projects and plans. Last April, the so-called ‘ministerial cabinet approved a settlement project aimed at expanding settlements and linking them to a road network around the city of Jerusalem, with partial funding from Palestinian clearance funds without the approval of the Palestinian side. This includes the construction of two main roads: firstly, between the towns of Al-Za im and Al-Eizariya, designated for Palestinians and aimed at separating them from the ‘Ma ale Adumim settlement’, secondly, ‘Alternative Road 80’, to connect Al-Eizariya to an area near Khan Al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, within a larger plan aimed at strengthening settlement within what is known as the ‘E1 plan’.
According to Israeli sources, the cost of the plan amounted to about NIS 345 million of which 335 million were for the separation road, and 10 million for planning the alternative road. It was financed from outside the occupation state’s budget through a special fund, in which Palestinian clearance funds are used, in a move that human rights organizations described as stealing Palestinian public money.
Ensuring high quality for settlers in the West Bank same as the life of settlers living in the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Governorate explained that the occupation authorities are funneling tens of millions of shekels into settlement projects in the occupied city and providing settlers with private security at a cost of NIS 3,000 per month per settler, amounting to nearly NIS 100 million annually.
Noting that they are all part of a strategy to consolidate control and impose a Judaized reality on the city. The Governorate indicated that the policies are accompanied by an escalation in demolition, harassment, and discrimination, embodying an apartheid system aimed at emptying Jerusalem of its original inhabitants and undermining their resilience, besides that funding, the expansion of settlement activity constitute in an illegal, unilateral escalation that keeps the region in a lasting tension state.

List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Demolishing a commercial establishment in the Bab-Amoud Neighborhood on Sultan Suleiman St, agricultural structures in the Marj Neighborhood of Anata, and a residential building in the Wadi Qaddum Neighborhood of Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque under the pretext of building without a permit. The Wadi Qaddum building contained 13 flat and housed 100 people, who were left homeless.
- Demolishing 2 houses in the Sal a Neighborhood of Jabal Mukabber, belonging to brothers Mah’d and Wasim Mashahra.
- Preventing Palestinian residents of Jerusalem from plowing their agricultural land in the Sawahra area, and 3 Palestinians were wounded by settler gunfire during an attack east of Anata.
Hebron:
- Injuring a 20-year-old Palestinian man after a group of armed settlers attacked residents with stones in the Khallat al-Natsh area of Jabal Jur, east of Hebron. He was taken to the hospital.
- Blocking the entrance to the village of Um Khair, prevented vehicles from passing through the area.
- Storming the Tell Ma in archaeological site in the Yatta desert, seizing a vehicle and conducting provocative tours of its interior. They erected a menorah and performed Talmudic rituals, while Israeli occupation forces occupied the rooftops of several houses to secure them.
- Storming the home of Farid al-Hamamdeh in the Fatih Sidra area, vandalized the surrounding fence and threatened the family with retaliation and forced displacement.
- Issuing demolition orders for 6 multi-story houses under construction, owned by several residents despite their possession of official documents proving their ownership of the land and homes in the town of Tarqumiya. It should be noted that the houses slated for demolition are located several kilometers from the settlements of Telem and Adora, which was built on the town s land.
- Attacking many residents in Khirbet al-Qat in the Beit Ummar town, damaging their land and property. This resulted in injuries to several members of the Sabarna family, who sustained bruises and contusions.
- Storming Khirbet-Tariqa ‘the archaeological site of Tabiqa’ in the town of Halhul and performed Talmudic rituals and prayers at the site, in the presence of official and religious Jewish leaders, amidst a widespread deployment of occupation forces.
- Plowing Palestinian-owned land in the Al-Buqa a area of Sikka village, west of Dura, injured 3 Palestinians in an attack by settlers from the Susya settlement on the town of As-Samu .
- Throwing stones against the home of Mah’d Daghameen, broke its windows, damaged its contents, and killed many livestock.
Bethlehem:
- Storming the Solomon s Pools area in the village of Artas, gathered at the third pool and performed Talmudic rituals.
- Imposing restrictions on the movement of shepherds, preventing approximately 30,000 sheep and 600 camels from grazing in the village of Rashayda.
- Issuing demolition orders for a wedding hall, a park, and a wooden shack in the village of Al-Khas, east of Bethlehem, belonging to Nidal Hazeibi. These structures, built on 4 dunams of land, are licensed by the Ministry of Local Government and are located in Area B.
- Issuing stop-work orders for 4 houses in the village of Al-Asakra, under the pretxt of not having a license.
- Attacking Palestinian-owned land in the village of Kisan, causing the death of 5 sheep after spraying toxic pesticides on the land in the northern part of the village.
Ramallah:
- Running over a man while praying in the street near the village of Deir Jarir, northeast of Ramallah. The occupation authorities claimed to be investigating the racist incident.
- Attacking Palestinian vehicles near the town of Ein Yabrud, while other armed settlers attacked the village of Shuqba, raiding a house and a playground on the northern outskirts of the village and vandalizing their contents.
- Uprooting trees and bulldozing areas of Palestinian-owned land in the Turmus Ayya Plain targeted agricultural land in the area.
Salfeet:
- Bulldozing dozens of dunams of land north of the village of Yasuf, adjacent to the settlement of Tapuah, east of Salfeet.
Nablus:
- Storming the eastern part of Nablus, and dashed a youth, causing him to suffer fractures in his legs.
- Storming the Bedouin community of Al-Ara ara, located in the Ras Qara area east of Duma. Others stormed the outskirts of the Burin village and conducted a provocative tour among the residents homes.
- Plowing Palestinian-owned land in the towns of Beit Dajan and Beit Furik, others plowed dozens of dunams in the Mahfouriya Plain south of the Aqraba town, and in the lands of Yanun, with the aim of seizing the land.
Jenin:
- Storming the evacuated Tarsala settlement, south of Jenin, near the Jaba town, known as the ‘Sanur" settlement’, which was evacuated in 2005. This incursion was in preparation for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
- Bulldozing large areas of agricultural land in the ‘Al-Suruj area’ in the Silat Al-Harithiya town, estimated at between 400 and 450 dunams, planted with olive trees for over 30 years.
Tulkarem:
- Attacking a demonstration in the Beit Lid town that protested the Israeli decision to confiscate Palestinian land for settlement expansion, fired tear gas and stun grenades at the demonstrators, who chanted slogans condemning the settlements, injuring 3 Palestinians.

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