Israel's Settlement Boom: November 2025 Approvals Reshape West Bank Facts On Ground
Record Annual Figures Mask Strategic Planning Process Designed to Foreclose Palestinian Statehood.
Israel has entered 2025 with unprecedented speed in building settlements across the occupied West Bank. By mid-November, government authorities had approved plans for nearly 28,200 housing units—more than the entire previous year. This acceleration came during a period when negotiations over Palestinian statehood were theoretically possible, yet Israeli leaders simultaneously doubled down on settlement expansion while publicly dismissing the prospect of Palestinian independence.
The timing was no accident. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who now controls settlement planning, has explicitly stated that these new housing units represent “another nail in the coffin” of Palestinian statehood. These approvals are not marginal additions to existing settlements—they constitute a strategic reshaping of West Bank geography designed to prevent Palestinian self-determination from ever becoming viable.
What Happened in November
On November 5, Israeli planners approved 1,985 new housing units across multiple West Bank settlements. Days earlier, on November 4, the Housing Ministry released construction tenders for another 342 units in Geva Benyamin. The combined total of roughly 2,300 units approved in early November made it one of the single largest approval periods in recent history.
These weren’t abstract numbers. The approvals included 720 units for Avnei Hefetz east of Tulkarem, 568 units in Einav east of Tulkarem, 258 units in Rosh Tzurim south of Bethlehem, 178 units in Ganei Modi’in, 133 units in Kfar Tapuach south of Nablus, and 80 units in Etz Efraim. Some received immediate construction authorization. Others entered formal public review periods, but their advancement through the pipeline was already assured.
