New Bypass Roads Worth Over One Billion Shekels to Support Settlement Expansion Project

SadaNews - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Minister of Settlement in the Defense Ministry, along with Minister of Transportation and Communications Miri Regev, announced last Monday that the Israeli government has decided to allocate an additional amount of 1.075 billion shekels for settlement roads, in additional allocations from the Ministry of Finance's budget for the years 2026 to 2028. This is in addition to the seven billion shekels that had been allocated for constructing roads to settlements in the West Bank. This new addition represents about 30% of the budget for intercity roads in the occupying state.

According to a report by the National Office for Defending Land and Resisting Settlement, the Israeli government has indeed invested substantial amounts in recent years to develop bypass roads in the West Bank with the goal of facilitating the construction of new settlements and expanding existing ones. In June 2024, Minister Smotrich announced during an internal conference of the Religious Zionism party that he allocated 7 billion shekels for settlement roads over five years. This amount is significant, approximately 1.4 billion shekels annually. For comparison, the entire intercity roads budget in the occupying state over the past four years has been about 4.5 billion shekels annually (according to implementation data for intercity road budgets). Thus, about 30% of the budget for intercity roads in Israel has been allocated for settlements where only 3% of the Israeli population resides.

The new bypass roads, which were mentioned in the joint statement from Smotrich and Regev, can be categorized as roads under implementation: roads under construction / close to starting work, such as the Quarry Axis / Jaba bypass road, Ramallah, Qalandiya Tunnel, Al-Eizariya - Al-Za'im, Jerusalem Eastern Ring Road, Jerusalem from Binyamin Junction to British Police Intersection, Ramallah, Jerusalem to Bani Na'im, Bethlehem, the bypass hotel road, Qalqilya, the Nurseries road, Qalqilya, Ariel Junction - Taffuh Nablus Modiin Illit – Shilat Ramallah Bani al-Ain bypass Ramallah Hizma – Adam Ramallah Silat al-Dhahr bypass Jenin Betar Illit – Husan Bethlehem, and planning and preparation roads such as Dolev - Route 443 Ramallah - Detailed planning for implementation, Modiin Illit - Route 443 Ramallah - Legal planning, Atarot Junction Ramallah - Detailed planning for implementation, Al-Eisawiya Junction Jerusalem - Detailed planning for implementation, Beitar Illit - Giv'ut Bethlehem - Legal planning to Taffuh Junction Nablus - Legal planning from Bani Na'im to Shem'a Hebron - Legal planning Kfar Etzion - Jaba Bethlehem - Applicable, Beit El - Route 60 Ramallah - Detailed planning for implementation, Jordan Valley Road Legal planning.

This government began since its formation at the end of 2022 to construct numerous bypass roads linking existing settlements in the West Bank without the need to pass through Palestinian population centers, and facilitating direct connections to the Israeli interior on the other hand, like the Hawara bypass road (Za'tara junction), the Al-Aroub bypass road, the Qalandiya tunnel, the Western Luban bypass road, the Nabi Elias bypass road, and the Eastern Ring Road around Jerusalem, and expanding Route 60, which penetrates the West Bank from north to south, and the eastern Gush Etzion - Dead Sea road. Just to remind, the occupying state has constructed more than 952 kilometers of bypass roads over the past few years, which have contributed to stifling the development of Palestinian localities in the West Bank.

Alongside the new bypass roads as a lever for the settlement project, the High Planning Council in the Civil Administration of the Occupation Army is considering plans to build 643 housing units in several settlements in the West Bank. The acceleration in the pace of planning discussions and rapid approvals reflects the Israeli government's determination to resume settlement activity at an accelerated pace in northern West Bank, including areas that have not seen settlement presence for over two decades. With the addition of a plan to build 517 housing units in the settlements of Ma'ale Adumim and Ma'aziah in the northern Jordan Valley, the total number of housing units approved by the council in 2026, including current deliberations, reaches 3,732 housing units, about 1,338 of which are in the settlement of Kadumim, where Bezalel Smotrich resides. "Ma'aziah" was one of the settlement outposts that the Israeli government granted "legal" legitimacy in July 2024, converting it from an unauthorized random outpost to an independent settlement. The legalization of this outpost came as part of a package of decisions that also included the outposts of "Givat Hanan" in Masafer Yatta and "Kedem Arafa" in the northern Jordan Valley. The newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" revealed that the occupation intends to establish two new settlements in the Jordan Valley, named Bezek and Tamun, in implementation of the Israeli government's decision last December. The decision to establish "Bezek and Tamun" is part of a broader plan devised by the Settlements Council, aimed at creating 18 new settlements in the area. Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Settlements Council, indicated that the creation of these settlements aims to reinforce control over the land and solidify settlement presence in the northern West Bank. Thus, the year 2026 has formed a critical turning point in settlement movement. Since the formation of the current government, more than 100 settlements, outposts, and pastoral farms in the West Bank have been approved. It is noteworthy that amidst the war on Iran, the Cabinet secretly approved the establishment of 34 additional settlements, with strict confidentiality maintained over the meeting details due to concerns about international pressures that might obstruct this step.

In light of the escalating settlement activity and the intention of Benjamin Netanyahu's government to implement its settlement plan in the E1 area, several ministers, ambassadors, and European officials sent an open letter last Wednesday to European Union leaders, demanding urgent action against what they described as "illegal annexation" being carried out by Israel in the occupied West Bank through the E1 project, aimed at constructing thousands of housing units. The letter, signed by 448 former European officials, including former Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, stated that the EU and its member states, along with their partners, must take immediate steps to deter Israel from continuing its illegal annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank. The signatories also argued that, at the very least, the EU should impose targeted sanctions, including visa bans and preventing business activities within the EU for all individuals involved in illegal settlement activities, especially those promoting, participating in, and executing the E1 project plans.

In this context, the leftist Israeli organization "Ir Amim", specializing in Jerusalem affairs, stated in its latest reports that Israeli annexation policies around Jerusalem are leading to systematic displacement of Palestinians. According to the report, the lifting of international restrictions that had hindered construction in the E1 area for years, and the approval of plans to build approximately 3,400 housing units, along with substantial expansion in the "Ma'ale Adumim" settlement, represent part of a broader set of Israeli measures that collectively constitute a turning point in the policy, with serious implications for the Palestinian geographical contiguity in the West Bank, especially with the advancement of the establishment of four new settlements - Mibashrit Adumim, Mishmar Yehuda, Yitziv, and Bar Kochba - along with several outposts and the creation of Route 45 and other infrastructure projects costing hundreds of millions of shekels, connecting settlements to Jerusalem and leading to the fragmentation of Palestinian areas.

In Jerusalem, the practices of settlers threaten dire consequences, after the so-called "temple organizations" in collaboration with several Israeli politicians, including Knesset member Amit Halevi from the "Likud" party, launched a campaign demanding permission to invade the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, May 15, 2026, coinciding with the so-called "Jerusalem Day" in the Hebrew calendar. The dangers surrounding the holy places have escalated following the religious authority of the "Otzma Yehudit" party, Rabbi "Dov Lior", issuing an unprecedented fatwa allowing the extremist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to invade any location within the walls of Al-Aqsa Mosque, including the Qibli Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Channel 7 reported that the rabbi granted this fatwa to Ben Gvir exclusively at this stage, noting that it aims to "demonstrate control" over the holy site. In turn, the electronic newspaper "Zman Yisrael" confirmed that this fatwa disregards all claims related to preserving the "status quo" at Al-Aqsa and represents a blatant violation of existing understandings with Jordan in this regard. The newspaper pointed out that the issuance of this fatwa coincides with preparations to hold a conference on the "Red Heifer" in Jerusalem, discussing the potential conditions for burning the heifer and purifying "Bani Israel" with its ashes, as a preliminary step to begin constructing the "Third Temple" on the ruins of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

On another note, media reports revealed explicit confessions made by the commander of the Central Command in the Occupation Army, Major General Avi Blot, during a closed forum, admitting to the existence of unequal and discriminatory law enforcement policies against stone throwers in the occupied West Bank. He clarified that the military institution openly and systematically differentiates between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in field dealings, affirming that this differentiation comes within a specific security and societal vision of the occupation. Blot justified the military's avoidance of shooting at settlers who engage in stone throwing due to the desire to avoid what he described as 'deep societal repercussions'. He warned that targeting settlers could ignite severe internal tensions within the occupying society and undermine its stability, considering that using lethal force against them would not resolve the crisis but complicate it. Avi Blot is known as a settler and effectively holds the position of the military governor of the West Bank. According to Israeli media, Blot combines powers of the three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, without any parallel or competing authority, making him the de facto military governor of the West Bank.

In contrast, Blot stoutly defended the engagement rules applied against Palestinians, which grant soldiers the green light to use live ammunition. He revealed that this strict policy led to the killing of 42 Palestinians who threw stones on the roads during the year 2025 alone, expressing pride in these results, which he views as an effective deterrent. Blot indicated that field practices are intensifying in friction areas and along the separation wall, where forces are allowed to follow a use-of-force gradient extending to direct gunfire at lower extremities, claiming that this policy aims to prevent attempts to cross into the occupied lands of 1948, asserting that the numerous injuries occurred among Palestinians achieved a strong deterrence effect serving security goals.

These statements affirm international human rights reports that accuse the occupation army of institutionalizing an "apartheid" legal and operational system in the West Bank. While settlers enjoy legal protection and immunity from gunfire even in cases of aggression, Palestinians face deadly engagement rules that have resulted in dozens of martyrs and injured under weak security pretexts acknowledged by occupation leaders themselves as dualistic.

In a provocative new step, the Arizona State Senate recently approved a decision calling for state institutions to use the term "Judea and Samaria" in all their official documents, instead of "West Bank". According to the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth", this step, which gained approval from the state House of Representatives about two months ago, is a product of pressure from the lobby led by the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, in cooperation with the council's external relations unit. During discussions that took place in Arizona, Livingston emphasized the supposed "ideological and historical motives" that drove him to take this step. He stated, "I was in Israel and we went to Samaria, and it was clear - it is very clear that this is Israel. The people, the culture, the history – it affected me a lot, and it was important for me to push for this law to be passed." From a broader political perspective, Arizona's decision is a state-level decision only. The state seeks, through this step, to influence the U.S. foreign policy, which is determined in Washington, where the international community and the official U.S. administration still mainly recognize the area as "the West Bank."