The Knesset Security Cabinet, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, approved a budget proposal of NIS 1.3 million to establish new Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday.
According to the decision, 34 new settlements will be established in the near future - nine in the Samaria region, seven in the Binyamin region, four in the Hebron area, seven in the Jordan Valley, six in the Gush Etzion area, and one in the Megilot Regional Council area.
This will bring the total number of West Bank settlements established under the current government to 103.
The budget was approved in June, but the details of the plan to build new settlements were only made available to the public on Tuesday.
National Missions Minister Orit Strock, Construction and Housing Minister Haim Katz, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich submitted the proposal.
Smotrich celebrated the announcement and pushed for more settlements.
"We have made sure that... the establishment of new settlements in Judea and Samaria will not remain on paper, but will take shape and be implemented on the ground."
"We are passing one budget decision after another," Smotrich said. "Budget for roads, for infrastructure, and now also for buildings and caravans."
"We will be moving forward with many more settlements this summer," the finance minister predicted. "There is a huge demand for it."
Budget approval marks 'historic' leap in West Bank Jewish settlement growth
Orit Strock echoed Smotrich's sentiments, emphasizing the sheer size of the projected building project. "There has never been a Zionist settlement decision of this magnitude in the entire history of [the State of Israel]."
"Investing in settlement [of the West Bank] strengthens our hold throughout Israel and secures our future," Katz said. "The approved budget will allow us to begin development, establish neighborhoods, and lay infrastructure that will allow families to move in as soon as possible."
"The Construction and Housing Ministry will work to remove barriers and accelerate the process, so that new settlements can quickly go from the planning phase to reality," Katz added.
NGO slams new settlements project
Anton Goodman, director of partnerships in Rabbis for Human Rights, criticized the project, saying that there is "no real demand in Israeli society for housing in the West Bank."
"These 34 outposts are ideological, and they will hold very few people. That is the point: Smotrich's strategy is to take vast amounts of land with a minimal number of settlers," he claimed.
"It is also a reward for violence. The outpost machine drives Palestinian communities off their land through intimidation, and then waits for the state to arrive with roads and budgets. Today it arrived, with billions of shekels. Palestinians will pay the price, in freedom of movement, in access to medical care, and in the ability to reach and farm their own private land," Goodman added.
Anna Barsky and Avi Ashkenazi contributed to this report.