24 June 2025 – Union for Justice Foundation
The Union for Justice Foundation presents an overview of the Israeli occupation’s strategies aimed at expanding settlements and altering the demographic composition of occupied Palestinian territory, based on developments observed during May 2025. These strategies constitute grave violations of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention and relevant UN resolutions, and contribute to the systematic displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian population.
Settlement Expansion and Structural Planning
Approval of Settlement Master Plans: In May 2025, the Israeli occupation authorities reviewed 26 structural plans for the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, approving 16 and depositing 10 others for future approval.
New Housing Units: Settlement plans announced during March aimed to build 3,451 new housing units. On 7 May, the Higher Planning Council was scheduled to approve 1,588 additional units, including 1,388 units in the Kedumim settlement. Tenders were also issued for:
– 296 units in Kiryat Arba (Hebron)
– 8 units in Givat Binyamin
– A 180-room hotel in the illegal outpost “Oz Vegaon” south of Bethlehem
This brings the total number of tenders issued since the start of 2025 to 1,278 units.
Transformation of Archaeological Sites into Colonial Tourism Projects: On 11 May, the Israeli Civil Administration initiated excavations at Sebastia, an archaeological site near Nablus, as part of a plan to convert it into a settler-focused tourism destination. A budget of NIS 32 million (2023–2025) was allocated for this purpose, including road construction and a visitor center.
Acceleration of Settlement Construction: The West Bank witnessed an unprecedented increase in settlement activity in 2025. On 21 May, the Israeli government advanced approvals for 514 units in the settlements of Eli, Elkana, and Ariel. The Higher Planning Council now meets weekly, rather than quarterly, a procedural shift since December 2024 that has normalized and accelerated settlement construction, reaching a record 16,820 approved units since January 2025.
Establishing New Settlements and Legalizing Outposts: At the end of May, the Israeli government approved the establishment of 22 new settlements, including:
– 9 entirely new settlements
– 12 unauthorized outposts and settler farms to be retroactively legalized Additionally, Nofei Prat was granted the status of an independent settlement. Since the current government took office in December 2022, 49 settlements have been approved, with 7 new legalization procedures initiated for outposts. These settlements are spread across Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, the Jordan Valley, Hebron, and Jenin, indicating a deliberate strategy to consolidate settler presence throughout the West Bank.
Land Confiscation and Destruction of Property
Military Seizure Orders: The Israeli military issued seven new seizure orders, targeting a total of 48 dunums in Salfit, Nablus, and Qalqilya. These include:
– 13.117 dunums in Bruqin (Salfit)
– 2.224 dunums in Burin (for a military tower)
– 4.821 dunums in Awarta (for road construction)
– 2.374 dunums in Huwwara (for a security fence)
– 7.311 dunums in Qabalan and Beita (buffer zone around “Avitar” outpost)
– 4 dunums in Deir Sharaf (military tower)
– 14.917 dunums in Qalqilya and Nablus (buffer zone around “Havat Gilad”)
Land Bulldozing and Destruction of Infrastructure: The Israeli army bulldozed dozens of dunums across the West Bank, particularly in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps. Occupation forces and settlers uprooted approximately 1,068 olive trees in Hebron, Salfit, Ramallah, Tulkarem, and Nablus.
New Land Registration Law: The Israeli government submitted a legal petition to the Supreme Court to implement a new land registration procedure. This measure allows land to be registered under state ownership—even if cultivated by Palestinians—unless claimants meet unreasonably strict evidentiary criteria, thus threatening widespread Palestinian land loss.
Demographic Manipulation Through Home Demolitions and Forced Displacement
Demolitions: Since March 2025, Israeli authorities have demolished 121 Palestinian homes and structures, including 56 in Hebron Governorate alone. In total, 727 structures were demolished since January 2025—65% under the pretext of lacking building permits, although such permits are systematically denied to Palestinian communities in Area C. In Jerusalem, 50 structures were demolished by their owners under threat of fines, out of 80 targeted structures, and the Israeli army carried out 17 punitive demolitions, forcibly displacing 20 families comprising 79 individuals.
Eviction and Displacement Orders: Israeli forces issued 81 evacuation orders in northern Gaza, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah, rendering 31% of the Gaza Strip inaccessible or evacuated. Simultaneously, 33,000 displaced persons were barred from returning to their homes in Tulkarem and Jenin.
Settler Violence and Coerced Displacement: On 22 May, the village of Al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, began evacuating homes due to escalating settler violence. Settlers surrounded the village with outposts and seized large swathes of land, preventing access to farmlands and grazing areas. The construction of a new settler outpost inside the village’s residential zone was a decisive factor in triggering mass displacement.
Isolation of Palestinian Communities
Construction of Settler Roads: Between mid-2023 and mid-2024, settlers constructed 139 roads, totaling 116.4 kilometers, 65% of which cut through privately owned Palestinian land. These roads serve:
– The establishment of new outposts
– Territorial expansion over strategic hills
– Infrastructure development inside Area B, under nominal Palestinian civil control
These roads, combined with accompanying military operations, have cut off many Palestinian villages from their agricultural lands, further shrinking Palestinian presence in Area C.
Movement Restrictions: On 22 May, Israeli forces concluded a military operation in Bruqin and Kafr al-Dik (Salfit), and imposed severe restrictions on Palestinian movement, closing the two main gates to Salfit and forcing residents to use dangerous and undeveloped alternative routes, which increased travel costs and disrupted access to essential services.
State-Sponsored Security for Settlers
According to the Israeli Ministry of Finance, the government spent approximately NIS 101 million in 2024 on private security companies protecting around 3,000 settlers living in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Since 1997, over NIS 2.6 billion has been spent on this policy.
These interlinked strategies reflect a state-driven project of demographic engineering, aimed at consolidating permanent control over occupied Palestinian territory, undermining the prospects of a sovereign Palestinian state, and obstructing humanitarian access. The Union for Justice Foundation calls upon the international community to take immediate and concrete steps to uphold international law, protect the rights of the Palestinian people, and hold the occupying power accountable for its ongoing violations.
