OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Jerusalem Governorate on Thursday warned of the implications of the Israeli Security Cabinet’s approval of a plan to establish 13 new settlements under the so-called Binyamin Regional Council.
In a statement, the governorate said the decision is part of a broader policy aimed at expanding Israeli settlements, creating new geographic realities in the central occupied West Bank, and further isolating Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.
It added that as Israeli elections draw nearer, “Palestinian land and Palestinian blood become tools for political competition” within Israel.
The governorate said the recent acceleration of settlement projects and land confiscations reflects a policy by the Israeli government to consolidate control over occupied land while appealing to the far-right Israeli electorate ahead of the elections at the expense of Palestinian rights.
According to the statement, Israeli plans indicate that the first phase of the project will begin in the coming months and include the establishment of four to six new settlements.
The plan also includes legalizing several pastoral settlement outposts by converting them into permanent settlements, thereby making them eligible for government funding and infrastructure.
The governorate said the project is based on two main corridors. The first stretches across areas northwest of Jerusalem and west of the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate along Route 60, while the second extends eastward from Ramallah toward the Jordan Valley, strengthening links between settlement blocs in the central West Bank and eastern areas.
It noted that the project falls under the Binyamin Regional Council, the largest settlement council in the occupied West Bank, whose settlements and outposts span large areas of Occupied Jerusalem and Ramallah governorates and extend toward the western slopes of the Jordan Valley.
The governorate said statements by Israeli officials indicate that the project goes beyond settlement expansion, aiming to reshape the geography of the occupied West Bank by strengthening Israeli control over major roads and strategic highlands while linking settlement blocs together. It warned that this would further fragment Palestinian territorial continuity between the central West Bank and the Jordan Valley and consolidate Israeli control over Area C.
The Jerusalem Governorate described the plan as a dangerous escalation in Israel’s settlement enterprise, saying it forms part of a systematic policy to fragment the West Bank, isolate Occupied Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings, and undermine the prospects for a geographically contiguous Palestinian state, in violation of international law and relevant international resolutions.
Settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank has accelerated in recent months alongside a rise in settler attacks and the approach of Israel’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 26, 2026, amid continued efforts to create new facts on the ground.