WEST BANK, (PIC)
A group of 42 members of the US Congress has called on the State Department to disclose how much money the Israeli government spends on building and expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, reflecting growing demands within Congress for greater transparency and accountability regarding Israeli settlement policies.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the lawmakers urged the administration to enforce a longstanding US law requiring regular reports on Israeli government spending related to settlements and its implications for US loan guarantee programs provided to Israel.
The lawmakers cited 22 U.S.C. § 2186, which requires the State Department to submit annual reports to Congress estimating Israeli government expenditures on settlement activities. However, they noted that such information has not been regularly published for more than a decade.
The signatories requested detailed data covering every fiscal year since 2013, as well as an explanation of the methods and criteria used by the US government to calculate spending linked to settlement expansion.
According to the lawmakers, the absence of this information has limited Congress’s ability to conduct effective oversight and has kept the true costs of settlement expansion largely shielded from public scrutiny.
The initiative comes amid a significant acceleration of settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, raising growing concerns about its impact on prospects for a political settlement and a two-state solution.
According to figures cited by the organization New Jewish Narrative, 2025 saw the establishment of 86 new settlement outposts and the official authorization of 54 settlements, while the Israeli government advanced plans for approximately 30,000 new settlement housing units.
The organization also reported that more than 6,200 additional settlement units have been approved since the beginning of 2026, the largest wave of settlement expansion in recent years.
Hadar Susskind, president and CEO of New Jewish Narrative, said the Israeli government is pursuing settlement construction at an unprecedented pace in an effort to entrench permanent control over the West Bank. He argued that the American public has a right to know how much funding is being directed toward a project that critics say undermines the prospects of a two-state solution.
The letter reflects a growing trend among some Democratic lawmakers to link US aid and loan guarantees to higher levels of transparency regarding settlement activities, amid increasing criticism of Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and their impact on regional stability and peace efforts.