By Najla M. Shahwan
The Israeli government has initiated a significant expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem , and while 2025 was a year of settlement expansion, 2026 is intended to be a year of “action on the ground” focusing on accelerating construction, retroactively legalizing outposts, and deepening control in strategically sensitive areas.
New construction projects, such as bypass roads and barriers, are actively slicing through the West Bank, creating disconnected “islands” of Palestinian areas and facilitating the expansion of settlements.
This strategy, heavily driven by Israeli far-right coalition members, aims to establish, legalize, and expand numerous settlements and outposts, effectively creating “de facto annexation”.
On his part, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a plan to allocate 2.7 billion shekels in the 2026 state budget to establish 17 new colonies in the West Bank over the next five years.
Plans for 22 new settlements in the West Bank were approved in early 2026, building upon a record number of approvals in 2025, which totaled 41 new settlements.
Israel has moved to start construction on the contentious E1 project, with a tender for 3,401 homes posted in late 2025/ early 2026.
This project aims to connect Maale Adumim settlement with East Jerusalem, which analysts warn will divide the West Bank in two and block the contiguity of a future Palestinian state.
Plans are also advancing for a major new 9,000-unit settlement project in East Jerusalem, at the site of the former Atarot/ Qalandiya airport.
Besides, a new settlement named Mishmar Yehuda (or Givat Adumim) was recently approved, located near Kedar and Ma’ale Adumim.
Reports from May 2025 and January 2026 indicate a surge in the legalization of previously unauthorized settler outposts, transforming them into permanent, legal settlements under Israeli law.
Following the repeal of the 2005 Disengagement Law, plans are underway to rebuild and expand settlements in the northern West Bank, such as Homesh and Sa-Nur.
Settlement activity is heavily concentrated in the East Jerusalem area, the northern West Bank, and the Jordan Valley to sever Palestinian territorial continuity.
Settlement expansion has been accompanied by increased settler violence and attacks, with over 1,800 incidents documented in 2025, according to the UN.
Settlers have been involved in the killings of Palestinians, including children, and have caused thousands of injuries through physical assaults, shootings, and arson.
In the first weeks of 2026, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded at least 55 settler attacks causing injury or property damage and injuring 30 Palestinians. These attacks, often targeted water systems and schools, have directly led to the displacement of over 100 Palestinian Bedouin and herding households.
In the Jericho area community of Ras ‘Ein al ‘Auja, at least 77 households began dismantling their homes following intensified nighttime settler attacks and threats.
Settler attacks have completely displaced 29 Palestinian communities since October 2023, more than one a month on average, UN data showed.
Attacks frequently target Palestinian property, including the burning of homes, destruction of vehicles , poisoning water sources , steeling livestock , devastating agricultural livelihoods and uprooting or chain sawing of olive trees.
Settler violence is a key driver of forced displacement, creating a coercive environment that has forced dozens of Palestinian communities to leave their homes.
Since October 7, 2023, thousands of Palestinians have been displaced due to settler attacks.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and various UN bodies have reported that the distinction between settler violence and state violence has become increasingly blurred, with settlers wearing uniforms and acting alongside or as part of the Israeli security forces.
The line between settler and state violence has blurred “to a vanishing point,” according to a 2025 UN report.
This is attributed to the involvement of settlers in official “settlement defense squads” and “regional defense battalions,” which are part of the Israeli army’s structure.
The UN has noted a high level of impunity for perpetrators, with very few investigations into settler attacks resulting in convictions.
The European Union, various international bodies, various nations, including the UK, Canada, and Germany, have urged Israel to halt these activities, citing that the settlements are obstacles to peace , illegal under international law and undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.
The UN human rights office has repeatedly called on Israeli authorities to protect Palestinians from these attacks, end the cycle of violence, and hold perpetrators accountable.
However as of January 2026, reports indicate that Israel is disregarding all condemnations and warnings and accelerating its actions in the occupied West Bank, shifting from a “slow creep” of control to a rapid expansion of settlements and infrastructure, which observers characterize as de facto annexation.
This, combined with increased settler violence and military actions, is profoundly altering the landscape of the West Bank.
This ongoing process, which was often referred to as “creeping annexation’’, and now some analysts call it “running annexation’’ aims to permanently incorporate the West Bank into Israel by creating irreversible, on-the-ground facts.
Najla M Shahwan contributed this article to the Jordan Times
CrossFireArabia
Dr Khairi Janbek
