Settler council advances plan for 18 settlements in the northern West Bank

Israeli media reports indicate that the Samaria Regional Council has prepared a large-scale settlement initiative known as the “Connecting Plan”, aimed at establishing or re-establishing 18 settlements in the northern occupied West Bank.

According to the settler-affiliated website Emez, the plan includes the return of settlement activity to four settlements evacuated during the 2005 Israeli disengagement plan; Homesh, Sanur, Ganim and Kadim. 

The report states that the broader project would involve the establishment, expansion, or reconstruction of 18 settlements in total, including 14 additional settlements beyond the four evacuated in 2005.

According to the website, some components of the plan have already received approval from the Israeli government, while other parts remain subject to future political and planning decisions.

The report further states that the Samaria Regional Council has been promoting settlement expansion in the northern West Bank for several months, presenting the initiative as a long-term effort to strengthen Israeli settlement presence in the area nearly two decades after the disengagement.

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