Settlement & Annexation Report: April 17, 2026

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April 17, 2026

  1. WEST BANK: 34 New Settlements
  2. EAST JERUSALEM: Demolitions and Evictions in Silwan, Eviction in Old City, First Jerusalem Outpost
  3. STATE-BACKED SETTLER TERRORISM
  4. BONUS READS

WEST BANK

Unprecedented: Israel Approves 34 New Settlements

On March 25th, the Israeli Security Cabinet secretly approved the establishment of 34 new settlements, of which: 20 will be completely new settlements, 9 are illegal outposts that will be retroactively legalized, 2 will be expansions of existing settlements, and 3 are “neighborhoods” of existing settlements that will be split off and recognized independently.

This is the largest number of settlements ever approved at one time. Since Netanyahu came back to power in 2022, his government has approved the establishment of 103 settlements. Before 2022, there were 127 official settlements, meaning that over the past 4 years the Netanyahu government has increased the number of settlements by 80%.

According to media reports (the Cabinet has not published official information), the new settlements are located across the entire West Bank. Notably:

  • Six new settlements will be established in isolated areas of the northern West Bank encircling the Palestinian city of Jenin. There is not currently any Israeli presence in at least five of these areas, meaning these settlements will bring with them significant new infrastructure and military presence to serve and protect the settlements. When the Israeli Cabinet met to consider and approve the 34 new settlements, its reported that IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned the lawmakers that the IDF does not have enough manpower to meet the needs posed by 34 new settlements, and that the IDF could potentially collapse.
  • Seven new settlements are slated for the Jordan Valley
  • Six new settlements in the South Hebron Hills area, 3 of which are slated for firing zones.
  • 8 of the new settlements will be built on land that Israel recognizes as privately owned by Palestinians.
  • Only 15 of the settlements are slated to be built on land that Israel has declared “state land,” meaning that eleven settlements will be built on land without clear legal status.
  • All of the new settlements are located in Area C.

Peace Now said in a statement: 

“The government has gone into a frenzy ahead of the elections, seeking to create as many facts on the ground as possible and leave Israel with scorched earth. Today it is already clear to everyone—and the IDF emphasizes this again and again—that the establishment of settlements harms security, places an abnormal burden on the IDF, and undermines the possibility of resolving the conflict and achieving any future security and peace.”

Israeli settlement expert Shaul Arieli posted on X:

“…32 of the 34 settlements are planned outside the route of the existing security barrier. This exposes the gap between the security rationale long presented to the public and the reality on the ground. If the barrier was built to ensure security, why insist on expanding settlement activity beyond it? The answer is clear: ideology, not security, lies at the heart of this policy. It should also be emphasized that these locations remain approximate, as no official map has been published and no final coordinates have been determined. This ambiguity is hardly incidental; it enables the advancement of far-reaching policies away from public scrutiny, avoiding real-time criticism.”

EAST JERUSALEM

Ethnic Cleansing of Silwan Continues with Demolitions and Evictions

On March 30th, Israel demolished four Palestinian buildings in the Al-Bustan section of Silwan – displacing 16 people and damaging other houses in the area. During the demolitions, Israeli inspectors said 10 more demolitions will happen in the coming weeks, and another 30 demolitions are planned for later this year. That would conclude the demolition of the entire neighborhood; Israel plans to build a settler-run archaeological park called “King’s Garden” on the ruins of Palestinian homes.

Ir Amim writes:

“These expulsions are part of an unprecedented escalation in forced displacement from Silwan that is tantamount to forcible transfer and involves multiple state institutions and entities working in collusion with settler groups and reinforced by a complicit judiciary. The amount of resources being allocated and deployed to carry out these measures during an ongoing war underscores the Israeli government’s resolve to exploit the circumstances to accelerate forcible transfer and solidify an irreversible apartheid reality. As detailed in a forthcoming Ir Amim report, a web of state and local authorities, statutory bodies, and laws converge into a single coordinated, multi-layered system of state-orchestrated dispossession and displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, in flagrant violation of international law.”

In a report on Silwan, B’Tselem writes:

“Silwan lies within what is also known as the Holy Basin, which includes the Muslim and Christian quarters of the Old City, Sheikh Jarrah, aTur (Mount of Olives), Wadi alJoz, Ras al‘Amud and Jabal alMukabber. Due to its geographic location, Silwan is rich in archaeological and historical sites, which Israel uses to justify planning and zoning policies that restrict Palestinian development and promote Israeli control in the area. Declaring land as a national park, archaeological site or nature reserve serves, in practice, as a tool for dispossessing Palestinian residents of their land. Moreover, the development of these areas as heritage sites is carried out in close cooperation with far-right civil society organizations, particularly Ateret Cohanim and Elad. This joint effort serves a clear political objective: creating a Jewish strip of territory that severs the contiguity of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and cuts them off from the rest of the West Bank.”

First Jerusalem-Area Outpost

Settlers have erected the first ever outpost within Israel’s expanded municipal borders of Jerusalem, on lands between the bedouin village of Nu’uman and Umm Tuba.

Haaretz reports the settlers behind the new outpost are a group of teenagers, and while the outpost is currently one large tent the settlers have begun clearing roads. These settlers have already established a pattern of violence, and have launched at least one attac on nearby Palestinian villages – after which the IDF arrested four Palestinians and zero settlers. The settlers also attack Palestinians who have approached their outpost hilltop. Their violent presence has already limited the ability of Palestinians to graze their livestock in the area.

Eviction of Elderly Family in the Old City

The Jerusalem Magistrate Court has ruled that 12 elderly members of the Palestinian Basha family must vacate their home in the Old City, where their family has lived since the 1930s, by April 26th. The State of Israel initiated the eviction case in 2018, arguing that the property belongs to a Jewish religious endowment. The state filed the lawsuit in cooperation with the Ateret Cohanim settler organization.

Mufid Basha told Haaretz: “We have nowhere to go. This is where I was born, and so were all my siblings.”

 Peace Now said in a statement: 

“This is an injustice that cries out to heaven. While hundreds of thousands of Israelis live securely in properties that belonged to Palestinians before 1948, the law in East Jerusalem allows Palestinians to be dispossessed of homes that belonged to Jews before 1948. The government has established a mechanism for the dispossession and expulsion of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, and the General Custodian, a governmental body, has become a central executive arm of this policy. In addition to dozens of eviction lawsuits filed in recent years against Palestinians, the Custodian has also initiated and advanced plans for new settlements within Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem.”

STATE-BACKED SETTLER TERRORISM

State-backed settler terrorism has continued at an alarming rate of 10 incidents per day since the start of the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran. Key incidents over the past three weeks include:

  • Tayasir: On April 9th settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Tayasir,resulting in the murder of one Palestinian, Alaa Khaled Sbaih. This deadly attack is the latest in a string of settler attacks on Tayasir, with settlers injuring Palestinians and setting homes, vehicles, and buildings on fire. Settlers attacked a CNN crew who was documenting their attacks on Tayasir. On April 1st, before the murder of Sbaih, eight families from Tayasir decided to leave their homes and village under the coercive threat of settler violence.
  • Deir Jarir: Settles attacked  the Palestinian village of Deir Jarir on April 11th, opening fire on Palestinians who attempted to deter them. One Palestinian, Ali Majed Hamadneh (23), was killed by settler fire as he ran away from the settlers.

Further reading on settler terrorism:

 

BONUS READS

  1. “After Expelling 120 Families, Israeli Settlers Turn Stream Into Holiday Attraction” (Haaretz, 4/12/2026)
  2. “On the Brink: The Forced Displacement Crisis Facing Bedouin Communities in the Naqab” (Adalah, March 2026)
  3. “Israeli policies pose an existential threat to Palestinians in the West Bank. Why isn’t there more resistance?” (Mondoweiss, 3/31/2026)
  4. “US Sanctions: Criminalizing Palestinian and Global Justice Work” (Al-Shabaka, 3/31/2026)
  5. “‘It’s Treason’: He’s a Founder of Israel’s Settlements. He’s Horrified by the Rise of Jewish Terror” (Haaretz, 4/9/2026)
  6. “No permit, no work, no future: inside the lives of West Bank workers crushed by Israel’s labor ban” (Mondoweiss, 4/16/2026)