Settlement Outposts, Pastoral Farms are tools of Occupation to confront settlement policy’s obstacles

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj

The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that the Smotrich s team at the occupation s Civil Administration boasts of being involved in approving thousands of settlement units in settlements built in the West Bank, despite thedata published on March 25thby the [Israeli Today Newspaper’, which actually showed a negative migration from these settlements to the Green Line and even outside the occupying state. Notingthat the occupation government has approved 14,335 units in various areas of the West Bank, including East Jerusalemsince the beginning of the year, of which 52.7% in 4 settlements, 2 are ultra-Orthodox, namely: Beitar Illit 2,042 units, Kochav Yaakov, 1,247 units, 756 units in Kochav Yaakov, and 3,515 units in Ma ale Adumim, where the remaining units were distributed to 40 settlements, some of which contain few units.
Within the context, an Israeli research group, named, ‘Tamror Research Group’ reported that ‘analyzed data by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics showed, regarding the recent move of Israelis into the occupied territories was the worst. The second decade of the 21stcentury, especially after the Al-Aqsa Intifada,thousands of Israelis crossing the Green Line to settle in the West Bank. However, in recent years, there has been a change in the balance of settlement activity, with more Israelis leaving these settlements. In 4 of the last 5 years, there has been negative migration from the West Bank, but in the fifth year, a positive migration was noticed.
A report by the ‘Tamror’ indicated that in 2020 ‘the coronavirus year’, the exodus began with 842 settlers. In 2021, only 74 new settlers were added, but in 2022 - a year marked by harsh operations of which the Breaking the ‘Waves’ operation - a dramatic increase in the number of departures began: 1,022 settlers left the area, even though a significant number of housing units had been built at the time. In 2023, 550 new settlers joined the territories, but Oct. 7 and the subsequent war of 2024 witnessed the largest exodus - 1,596 settlers left the settlements and 284 left Israel.
The migration, albeit at a slower pace, as data for Jan. –Feb. 2025 showed the tendency to leave continued. By the end of Feb. negative migration from the settlements reached 182 people. In Tamror, they believe that the population growth currently relies merely on natural reproduction, which has increased by 549 births since the beginning of the year – 58% of whom live in Haredi towns, specifically Modi in Illit, Beitar Illit, and Givat Ze ev.
In this regard, Dr. Shaul Arieli, head of the Tamror Group, asserted that the increase in the number of housing units in the settlements, which reached tens of thousands in the first quarter of 2025, does not match the level of demand for housing in the region. ‘Smotrich and his government is obsessed with construction in the territories, this doesn’t align with the public s preference for living in the Green Line.’
Accordingto Dr. Shaul Arieli, new data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics showed a clear decline over the years in the percentage of Israelis living in Area C. According to Tamror, this has one meaning: stability in the number of Palestinians living in the area. While settlers constituted about 82% of Area C in 2010, their percentage dropped to 60 in 2020, and in the last 2 years, it dropped to 55%. The negative demographic trends among settlers in the occupied territories create a reality in which the percentage of Israelis in Area C, as in all areas, is declining. The population is becoming poorer and increasingly dependent on government grants.
This is not the first report by Tamror. A previous study by itrevealed that the Jewish settlement project in the West Bank faces significant challenges, many of which fails to address. Despite the political and ideological extremism of the settlers, there is a retreat among the settler public from the idea of moving to the settlements, according to the study. The study also indicated that a class struggle is emerging in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer.
Indeed, the poverty rate in the settlements is 10 times the rate inside Israel. In its study, Tamror refuted the claims of settlement leaders, who speak of their project as a ‘miracle,’ as described by Orit Strook, the Minister of Settlement in Benjamin Netanyahu s Government, because the reality shows that it is a failed project. In a third of the settlements, there was a complete balance of negative migration, meaning that those who left the settlements were more numerous than those who arrived. The only phenomenon that helped mitigate the negative trend was the -dir-ect arrival of 965 new immigrants from abroad to the settlements.
With the exception of this, the increase in the number of settlers resulted primarily from natural reproduction in ultra-Orthodox Jewish families ‘Haredim’, where the overwhelming majority of the increase in the West Bank, specifically 92% of the total increase, was the result of natural increase ‘births minus deaths’, which was amounted to 17,814 people in that period.
To address these problems, the occupation authorities resort to violent settlers with criminal records. The Kerem Navot and Peace Now recently published a joint report revealing how a small group of violent settlers has taken control of vast areas of Palestinian land by establishing more than 100 settlement outposts for grazing sheep, effectively displacing Palestinian communities completely´-or-partially from their homes. The report reveals that Israeli settlers have used the settlement outposts to seize at least 786,000 dunams of land, equivalent to 14% of the total area of the West Bank.
An analysis of the land seized by Israeli settlers showed that the majority of it isn’t classified as state land even according to Israel s own definitions, constituting only 40% of the seized area. The Israeli military has designated approximately 41% of the seized lands as firing zones, restricted areas where civilians other than permanent residents, including settlers, are officially prohibited from entering. In addition 4.4% of the lands seized by settlers through pastoral outposts fall within Areas A and B, which are under Palestinian Authority control. Data showed that 70% of the total lands seized by settlers since the 1990s using these outposts were seized in the past two and a half years alone.
The Supreme Planning Council of the occupation s Civil Administration, headed by Smotrich, is aware of this, yet in its weekly meetings, it continues to approve more and more construction in the settlements. At the same time, it is expanding the construction of outposts and terrorist farms on a massive scale, in an effort to preserve the settlement project and protect it from failure.
This is evident in a number of indicators aimed at ensuring contiguity between settlements, including isolated ones, on the one hand, and controlling the largest possible area of land as a vital area for settlement activity, on the other. The following examples illustrate the picture and shed further light on the role of this expansion in the spread of outposts and farms.
So, to ensure the continuity of Jewish settlements along the Allon Road, which was paved in the early 1970s, at least 30 illegal settlement outposts ‘3 of them established during the war’ were established on the eastern slopes of the West Bank and in the Jordan Valley, at the crossroads connecting the Jordan Valley with the edge of the Jordan Valley, and to ensure Jewish settlement continuity along Road 60, which connects all the major Palestinian cities, from Jenin in the north to Hebron in the south.Thirty outposts were established ‘five of them during the war’. In order to connect the isolated settlements on the edge of the Jordan Valley, five outposts were established east of Elon Moreh and six outposts east of Itamar.
The bypass roads were then built to reach these outposts and settlements, such as the bypass road that bypasses Hawara, which was completed a year ago at a cost of 800 million shekels, as part of the “Master Plan for Transportation in Judea and Samaria,’ for which NIS 7 billion were allocated over the next 5 years ‘20 percent of Israel’s road development budget’, and to ensure settlement continuity between Ariel and the settlements of Eli and Shilo, and from there eastward over a wide area to the Jordan Valley, 21 illegal outposts were established, 2 of them during the war and 9 that were legalized as neighborhoods in existing settlements´-or-as independent settlements.
In parallel with the development of existing settlement blocs southeast of Mount Hebron, between the settlements of Ma on and Susya, 16 settlement outposts were established east of Gush Etzion in the Tekoa and Nokdim areas, 3 of them during the war, and 5 others were legalized. In the northern Jordan Valley, 8 settlement outposts were established, 3 of which were legalized. In western Samaria, between Podil and Karnei Shomron, 12 settlement outposts were established, 5 of which were legalized.
This is in addition to ensuring settlement continuity between Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley to Ma ale Adumim. The settlement plan includes the establishment of the ‘Mevaseret Adumim’ Neighborhood (E1), the addition of 4,000 settlement units to the ‘Ma’ale Adumim’ settlement, and the establishment of 14 illegal settlement outposts between Jerusalem and the ‘Almog Jjunction’, south of Jericho.
On another level, the occupation authorities continue their policy of seizing Palestinian lands in the Jerusalem Governorate for the benefit of their settlement and Judaization activities and projects. In this regard, the Jerusalem Governorate stated in a statement on the 16thof this month that the escalation in Israeli settlement policies witnessed in the city of Jerusalem during the first 3 months of 2025 constitutes a blatant assault on the rights of the Palestinian people and a flagrant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions, foremost among which are Security Council Resolutions 242 and 2334, which affirm the illegitimacy of settlements in the territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem.
The Governorate revealed that the occupation authorities, during this period, announced the confiscation of more than 1,398 dunams of lands in the Jerusalem Governorate, either under the pretext of expanding roads, as is the case with Road 45,´-or-to expand existing settlements such as Givat Binyamin,´-or-by annexing illegal settlement outposts and transforming them into official settlements, as happened with Bani Adam. Infrastructure projects serving the settlement project were also announced in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods, such as, Wadi al-Joz, al-Ram, Kafr Aqab, Mikhmas, and Qalandia. In its statement, the governorate considered the announced settlement plans, including 7 new ones, to reflect a clear trend toward Judaizing the city and imposing a new demographic reality through the seizure of Palestinian lands and the expulsion of their indigenous inhabitants.
This is particularly true in the Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood, where the occupation authorities are seeking to establish the ‘Nahalat Shimon’ settlement at the expense of the neighborhood s Jerusalemite residents, who are considered protected tenants under Jordanian law in force in East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Governorate warned against the settlement project known as "Greater Jerusalem," through which the occupation government seeks to annex 223 km² of West Bank land to the Jerusalem municipality. This project includes the annexation of 14 settlements, within three large settlement blocs, aimed at fragmenting the West Bank, besieging the city of Jerusalem, and separating it from its Palestinian surroundings
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:

Jerusalem:
- Demolishing a ‘horse stable’ belonging to Jerusalemite, Yosef Mhaisen in the Beit Hanina town. The municipality had previously demolished his wedding hall in the Issawiya village. Moreover, they forced Jerusalemite, Alaa Alian to demolish an addition to an old building, under the pretext of building without a permit.
Hebron:
- Demolishing 2 houses in the Al-Rihiya village, south of Hebron, belonging to Ibrahim Al-Harshi, consisting of 2 floors, and the house of Atta Allah Ahmad Al-Harshi, which was under construction also consisting of 2 floors.
- Assaulting citizens in Khirbet Al-Halawa in Masafer Yatta, settlers, resulting in the injury of two girls, Majdoleen and Rahaf Mahmoud Abu Aram, who suffered bruises. They were transferred to Yatta Governmental Hospital for treatment.
- Bulldozing agricultural lands in Al-Burj village, belonging to Saeed Raba’ Al-Amur, in the Al-Rakeez area, demolishing stone walls and cutting down a number of trees and the fence surrounding the land.
- Chasing shepherds in the Sha’b Al-Batm area and the eastern area of Ma in village in Masafer Yatta.
- Stormingthe Ibrahimi Mosque amidst noisy celebrations, thousands of settlers participated in performing noisy dances in the courtyards of the mosque, coinciding with the occupation authorities’ decision to close it to Muslim worshippers. Meanwhile, thousands of settlers stormed the neighborhoods of the Old City of Hebron under heavy protection from occupation forces, whose snipers were positioned on the roofs of buildings overlooking the storming areas, amid the firing of sound bombs and forcing residents of the Old City to stay in their homes
Bethlehem:
- Bulldozing 150 dunams of land belonging to the Suwais family in the Khallet al-Qatn area. Meanwhile, the occupation forces raided the Salman Pools area and bulldozed land and closed the roads leading to the area to secure the settlers incursion.
- Leveling lands to pave a new settlement road connecting the area to the village of Artas. This will lead to reducing the Palestinian presence in the lands adjacent to the Efrat settlement, which is sitting on citizens lands, and will completely control the agricultural lands in the areas of Wadi al-Abyar, Wadi al-Shami, and al-Ahmadiya.
Ramallah:
- Bulldozing scores of dunams planted with ancient olive trees in the southern area of the Um Safa village, northwest of Ramallah. Noting that the settlers seized hundreds of dunams in the southern area, with the aim of transforming them into a pastoral settlement outpost.
- Handing over orders to seize about 137 dunams of lands from the city of Al-Bireh, and the Silwad, Ein Yabrud, Beitin, and Burqa yowns, east of the Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, and the Mikhmas town, northeast of occupied Jerusalem. Al-Bireh Municipality stated that the occupation s decision aims to expand the colonial road mo. 60, in the vicinity of what is known as the Sha ar Binyamin Industrial Xone’, near the ‘British Police Junction.’
Nablus:
- Storming the Joseph s Tomb east of Nablus under heavy protection from the occupation army, accompanied by Knesset member Zvi Sukkot and head of the Northern West Bank settlement council Yossi Dagan, and performed Talmudic prayers.
Tulkarem:
- Attacking ed the home of citizen Mufleh Hamad in the Rameen village, east of Tulkarem, and stole gas cylinders from him. They also tried to steal his vehicle, before the family and residents of the neighborhood confronted them, which prevented further thefts.
- Demolishing the house of citizen Ibrahim Droubi in the Shufa village.
- Forcing 7 families to evacuate their homes located adjacent to the Apartheid Wall, west of the Zeita town, north of Tulkaerm, without providing any justification.
Salfeet:
- Demolishing 2 inhabited houses in the Bruqin town, west of Salfeet, under the pretext of building in an area C belonging to Moh’d Khaled Sabra and Alaa Mah’d Barakat, in the Al-Buq’an area, despite the fact that the 2 houses have been inhabited for about 7 years.
- Injuring 2 citizens, damaged their vehicles in an attack by settlers against the Kafr ad-Dik town, west of Salfeet. They came from the Brukhin settlement and others attacked farmers’ vehicles while they were passing through an agricultural road in the Susiya area, north of the town of Kafr ad-Dik, which resulted in citizens Khaled Jabri Ali Ahmed and Yousef Naji being injured, and a number of passing vehicles were damaged.
- Cutting down about 60 olive trees in the eastern area of the Deir Ballut town, belonging to citizens from the Abdullah family.
Jordan Valley:
- Demolishing a water tank in Al-Deir in the northern Jordan Valley. The tank held 10,000 cubic meters and served the area s farmers, under the pretext of being built without a permit. In the same area, Israeli occupation forces dismantled a solar panel complex used to operate water pumps and seized it.
- Attacking the homes of citizens in the Arab Al-Malihat community and threw stones at them. Others attacked Bedouin citizens and shepherds near the village of Al-Duyuk Al-Tahta, west of Jericho, and threw stones at their homes.
- Damaging citizens vehicles with stones on the road to Al-Auja Spring, north of Jericho, damaging a number of them, stormed an archaeological site in Wadi Al-Qelt, west of Jericho, and performed Talmudic prayers.

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