Israel is moving forward with its annexation plan, launching new construction tenders, and legalizing terror outposts.

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
Settlement Weekly Report 27 Dec. 2025 - 2 Jan. 2026

The ‘National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that 2025 was a difficult year for the Palestinians in the West Bank as the Occupation Authorities intensified their policy of demolishing houses and displacing Bedouin communities, while land confiscation, settlement construction escalated, and outposts and terrorist pastoral farms proliferated widely under the current Right-Wing Fascist Government headed by Netanyahu, particularly during the brutal war on Gaza.
His Government waged 2 wars against the Palestinian people simultaneously, a war of annihilation in Gaza and a war of settlement expansion, home demolitions, displacement, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. Voices grew louder, clinging to the illusions and dreams of so-called ‘sovereignty’ and the annexation of vast areas of the West Bank with minimal Palestinian population, driven by false security justifications and Kahanist ideology.
During the years of occupation, Israel has established hundreds of settlements in the West Bank. By the end of 2025, their number reached to 350, including some 200 outposts that the Israeli Government is officially working to ‘legalize’ through occupation laws. It has also established some 35 industrial zones, built an extensive network of bypass roads, and -convert-ed hundreds of thousands of dunams into closed military zones and other grazing areas under the control of terrorist outposts established in various parts of the West Bank.
Those outposts are administered by a military governor and a civil administration that applies a mix of laws: Jordanian law, Ottoman law, and military orders, which it employs to serve its destructive settlement projects. Slowly but surely, the occupying power has begun to impose Israeli law as well in dealing with settlements, transforming settlers into citizens living within its borders.
Within the context, the occupied West Bank has witnessed rapid developments reflecting a fundamental shift in the relationship established by the agreements signed between the Palestinian and Israeli sides since their first agreement in 1993 ‘the Gaza-Jericho First Agreement’, upon which the Palestinian National Authority was founded in the territories occupied in 1967.
The Israeli Government led by the extremist religious and nationalist Kahanist faction is pushing for the annexation of large areas of Palestinian land, beginning with the Jordan Valley. This comes at a time when international recognition of the State of Palestine and its right to exercise sovereignty over its territories occupied since June 1967 is growing, particularly during the United Nations General Assembly meetings last September.
Meanwhile, settler leaders continue to intensify their pressure to impose what they call Israeli ‘sovereignty’ over the largest possible area of the West Bank, as part of a plan to exploit the current political moment and Donald Trump s return to the White House in order to accelerate and enable the annexation process.
Successive Israeli governments have employed the Declaration of Principles on Palestinian Self-Government Arrangements (the Oslo Accords) as a tool to expand the settlement project in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to impose facts on the ground that prevent the implementation of the two-state solution, leading to what is known as the ‘Decisive Plan’ that adopted by the current government based on imposing Israeli sovereignty over the largest area of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, with the fewest number of inhabitants.
In this regard the Israeli Knesset provides full support for the government s policies. This support comes not only from the parliamentary blocs participating in the government but also from some opposition blocs. We recall here the Israeli Knesset s approval, on July 23, 2025, of a bill supporting what is called ‘imposing sovereignty’ over the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, by a majority of 71 votes to only 13 against.
Although that doesn’t yet have the force of law ‘meaning it hasn’t passed the three readings to become legally binding’, it indicates the intentions of this government and its supporters in the Knesset, who called on ‘the Israeli government to act as quickly as possible to apply Israeli sovereignty, including law, judiciary, and administration, to all areas of Jewish settlement, in all its forms, in what they call Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley’.
The Israeli Security Cabinet is the decision-making body in this regard. It is within this body that difficult decisions are made concerning settlements, the legalization of terrorist outposts and similar settlements, such as pastoral farms, and the imposition of facts on the ground that prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. On Sept. 2nd of this year, this cabinet held a meeting dedicated to discussing the possibility of imposing Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank in response to international recognition of the State of Palestine.
It is a policy of blackmail that hasn’t prevented a number of Western countries from recognizing the State of Palestine, but it is also a policy with teeth. Settlement activity in the West Bank has tripled compared to previous periods, making the claim of reacting to the recognition of the State of Palestine a transparent pretext and a tool of blackmail. At that meeting, a number of options were discussed, including: imposing sovereignty over the major settlement blocs, expanding it to include all settlements,´-or-annexing the entirety of Area C, as well as exploring the possibility of annexing open areas and the Jordan Valley.
The debate over timing was divided between those who saw annexation as a -dir-ect response to international recognition of a Palestinian State during the UN General Assembly meetings, and those who preferred to expedite it as a preemptive step before any potential international action. Conversely, a third viewpoint emerged, arguing that ‘imposing sovereignty’ on the West Bank should be presented as an independent step, bolstered by Kahanist political ideologies on the one hand and fabricated security justifications on the other, rather than a reaction to external pressure.
The issue of ‘annexation´-or-imposing sovereignty’ over the West Bank occupies a special place on this government s agenda and in political discussions between Israel and the US, especially after Trump pledged to a number of Arab and Islamic countries that he wouldn’t give Netanyahu the green light for such a move. This, of course, didn’t prevent the issue from remaining on the agenda of meetings between officials from both the Israeli and American sides. In their meeting in Washington at the end of last August, Israeli FM Gideon Sa ar informed his American counterpart, Marco Rubio, that Israel was moving with deliberate steps toward imposing its sovereignty over the West Bank.
In line with the ongoing consultations between the two sides on this subject, Rubio refused to join the international condemnations -dir-ected against the Israeli government s steps, claiming that ‘what is being said about the West Bank and its annexation is not final, but is still under discussion among some Israeli political parties, and I will not give my opinion now’. Against this backdrop, US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, claimed that the construction of 19 new settlements in the West Bank ‘isn’t a violation of international law, as they are in Area C’. In a post on the X platform, he added, "There is no need for any reaction to Israel allowing the construction of 19 settlements.
It isn’t annexation, nor is it a declaration of sovereignty. They have issued 35 permits since President Donald Trump took office on January 20 of this year, all in Area C, none of which are in Palestinian Authority areas. It isn’t a violation of international law’. The US State Department hasn’t issued any correction´-or-clarification of this position. Meanwhile, Israeli FM Smotrich declared after the recent meeting between Donald Trump and Netanyahu in Florida that ‘the US administration is giving us full support for expanding settlements in the West Bank with the aim of undermining the establishment of a Palestinian state’.
As for the latest developments in settlement activity, which continues unabated, the occupation authorities have approved a new settlement plan, on both sides of 3,380 dunams in the Jerusalem desert, to establish a settlement city called ‘Mishmar Yehuda’. Smotrich, who is leading the city s establishment project, stated that work is ongoing to eliminate the idea of an Arab state in the heart of our land, considering the move to be part of ‘strengthening Jerusalem from the eastern side’.
The Mishmar Yehuda settlement, also known as ‘Givat Adumim´-or-Mitzpe Yehuda’ is located on the edge of the Jerusalem desert, north of the town of Al-Ubeidiya, near the settlements of Kedar and Ma ale Adumim, within the Gush Etzion Regional Council. Last Tuesday, the Israeli Yediot Aharonot newspaper revealed the master plan map for the settlement of Homesh, which was approved for reconstruction in the northern West Bank by the commander of the Israeli army s Central Command, Avi Blot, 20 years after its evacuation as part of the disengagement plan.
The map showed that the settlement would expand to 1,537 dunams, double its size before the evacuation, besides the Homesh, Blot also signed master plans last Sunday for four other settlements: Yonadav in the Hebron Hills, Givat Ha avot in Gush Etzion, Kedem Arava in the Megilit Regional Council on the western shore of the Dead Sea, and Har Ebal in Nablus. Furthermore, the settlement program granted full official recognition to the settlement of Adam and expanded the jurisdiction of the settlement of Ofra in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate.
Last week, the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration began discussing plans to build 1,033 housing units throughout the West Bank. Of those, 509 are in Asfar in the Hebron Governorate, 389 in Yitzhar in the Nablus Governorate, and 126 in Sanur in the Jenin Governorate. A notable aspect of this discussion is the resumption of settlement activity ‘Plan No. 108/2’ in the Sanur settlement, which was evacuated in 2005. The Israeli Security Cabinet approved its re-establishment in May 2025, thanks to amendments made by the current government to the Disengagement Law, which lifted the ban on Israeli presence in certain areas of the northern West Bank.
This approval represents a return to settlement activity deep within the northern West Bank, in densely populated Palestinian areas where no settlements had previously existed. The construction plan in the Yitzhar settlement ‘Plan No. 169/4’ aims to expand the settlement westward and southwestward, reaching the boundaries of Area B and bordering the built-up area of the Palestinian village of Asira Al-Qibliya. The shift to a weekly approval process is significantly accelerating the pace of settlement construction, since the beginning of 2025, including the most recent plans, the council has approved 28,163 housing units, an unprecedented record.
In Jerusalem, the policy of displacing citizens from their homes continues. Last Sunday, the occupation authorities and municipality in Jerusalem forced Mrs. Najah Al-Rajabi ‘Um Nasser’ and her 2 sons, Eiad and Nasser, to evacuate their houses in the Batn Al-Hawa Neighborhood in the Silwan town. The Israeli Execution and Enforcement Department changed the locks on the doors of the 3 houses and handed the keys to the Ateret Cohanim settlement association, which began renovating them in preparation for handing them over to 3 settler families, who will live in the neighborhood by force of the occupation.
The settlers were keen to erect a huge Israeli flag that hung from the top of the building to the bottom of it. They also fixed a mezuzah at its entrance, which is a small box of wood, metal´-or-glass, containing a paper on which 2 verses from the Torah were written, which the settlers touch and then kiss their fingers upon entering the place. With the arrival of three more families, the number of homes occupied by settlers in the neighborhood will rise to 26, the first of which was seized in 2004.
Last week, the Israeli Supreme Court approved the eviction of 13 Palestinian homes in the Batn al-Hawa neighborhood of Jerusalem in favor of the same settler organization. Batn al-Hawa is one of the most targeted neighborhoods in the town of Silwan by the occupation authorities and settler organizations. It is located approximately 400 meters from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and is home to about 10,000 Jerusalemites.

List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Forcing Saqr Ahmad Qanbar to demolish his own house in the Deir-Sunna area of Jabal Al-Mukabber, under the pretext of being built without a permit.
- Storming the Hathroura Community near Khan Al-Ahmar, continued their campaign of harassment against the residents.
- Cutting down about 40 olive trees in the Mikhmas village, north of Jerusalem in the Khallat al-Sidra area. Moreover, they blocked the only road connecting Khallat-Sidra to Mikhmas with -dir-t and stones, stolen solar-powered streetlights and brought a tractor to plow the road used by the residents.
- Demolishing the house of Shafi Ahmad Abu Shafi in the Bustan Neighborhood of Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, claiming it was built without a permit.
Hebron:
- Attacking Palestinian houses in the Rabia area of Sa ir town. 8 month-old Mayar Shalalda sustained injuries to her face and head and was taken to a hospital, where her condition was described as moderate. Significant damage was also inflicted on Palestinian property and homes. In the same area, settlers cut down dozens of olive trees in Wadi Sa ir.
- Assaulting Palestinians in the Rajoum I li area of Masafer Yatta.
- Bulldozing large areas of Palestinian land and demolished the foundations of numerous commercial structures along the main road connecting the towns of al-Dhahiriya and al-Ramadin.
- Constructing in the Dhahiriya a settler road more than 6 kilometers long, stretching from the Zanuta area east of the town to the al-Sarawat and Deir Ma la areas southeast of the town, encroaching on Palestinian land and surrounding their homes.
Bethlehem:
- Setting fire to a bulldozer in the Khallat Hajji Quarry area of Beit Fajjar, belonging to the Tawil family, causing significant material damage and spray-painting racist slogans.
- Demolishing a two-story house belonging to Abdullah Saleh Abdul Salam Salah in the Um Rukba area of al-Khader.
- Spraying toxic pesticides on land in the northern part of the in the Kisan village, causing the death of five sheep.
- Storming the village of al-Jab a, west of Bethlehem, setting fire to a vehicle belonging to Rizq Moh’d Musa Abu Luha and spray-painting racist slogans on the walls of several homes.
- Attacking Ibrahim Ahmad Hassan Ubayyat, 80, he sustained severe bruises to his shoulder and back, and 14-year-old Mustafa Abu Jalghif suffered fractures to his limbs after being brutally assaulted by settlers in the Khala il Al-Luz area,.
Ramallah:
- Attacking Palestinian houses at the entrance to the village of Deir Jarir, firing live ammunition at young men during the attack, wounding one.
- Demolishing a structure containing electrical equipment and a children s playground, claiming it was built without a permit in the village of Al-Mughayyir.
- Plowing 25 dunams of Palestinian-owned land planted with olive trees in the Turmusaiya town, for the benefit of a recently established settlement outpost west of the town.
- Attacking the house of the Abu Awad family, uprooted about 1,000 olive saplings in the Al-Mughayyir village.
- Injuring 7 Palestinians in an attack by settlers in the Al-Lawz area, an agricultural land in the town of Deir Dibwan. Among the injured was a paramedic. The settlers also seized two tractors. Hours earlier, settlers had attacked a farm in the same area of the town, stealing 150 sheep.
- Attacking Palestinian vehicles on the main road at the entrance to the Bil in town.
Nablus:
- Setting up caravan in the outpost on Mount Qarqafa, between the towns of Aqraba and Jurish, and extended the electricity network within the outpost, drawing water from the Migdalim settlement to supply the new structures.
- Attacking Palestinian-owned land in the towns of Beit Dajan and Beit Furik, east of Nablus, using agricultural tractors, began plowing areas of land west of Beit Dajan in an attempt to seize it and establish new settlements.
- Attacking the Ihab Ayed Odeh’s house in Huwara town, burnt his vehicle and wrote death threats on the walls of the house.
- Forcing the last remaining families in Khirbet Yanoun Al-Fouqa, which belongs to Aqrabah town, to leave under the influence of settler attacks and threats.
Salfeet:
- Storming agricultural lands in the area known as ‘Wadi Awad’ in the town of Deir Ballut and began bulldozing and uprooting 350-400 olive trees, caused significant damage to the agricultural lands and the livelihoods of the residents. Local sources indicated that the occupation forces uprooted between 350 and 400 olive trees, while others, who came from the pastoral settlement outpost known as ‘Hafat Ibn Haimer’, established on citizens lands north of Deiristiya, attacked truffle pickers while they were in the Al-Aqra area north of the town and detained a number of them.
Jenin:
- Constructing work in the evacuated settlement of Sanur, near the village of Sanur, while groups of settlers stormed Khirbet Masoud and attacked residents homes, caused panic among the inhabitants, especially children and women.
- Bulldozing agricultural land and olive trees in the Zubzaba town and threatened to bulldoze about 60 dunams of olive groves in the northern part of the town, including an estimated 1,500 trees.
Jordan Valley:
- Preventing farmers from cultivating their land in Khirbet Yarza, east of Tubas, and forcibly evicted them.
- Assaulting residents during a raid on the Al-Malih Community in the northern Jordan Valley. Settlers also raided the Bedouin Community of Shalal al-Auja, north of Jericho, toured the area and provoked local residents.
- Destroying crops across scores of dunams, while others bulldozed Palestinian-owned land in the Bedouin village of Shalal al-Auja, north of Jericho, in preparation for seizing it and annexing it to a recently established settlement outpost in the area.

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