Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced the allocation of $37 million to develop alleged Jewish heritage sites in the West Bank, amid intensified illegal settlement expansion in the occupied territory.
“For the first time in history, 113 million shekels ($37 million) will be allocated to develop more than 70 heritage sites in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said on Tuesday on X, using Israel’s biblical term for the West Bank.
Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, did not identify the targeted sites.
In May, the Knesset approved the first reading of a bill to establish the so-called “Judea and Samaria Heritage Authority,” which would place Roman, Byzantine and Crusader-era sites under the authority of Israel’s heritage ministry.
The bill also allows for the confiscation and purchase of real estate related to such sites, prompting the Palestinian Authority to warn that the measure aims to expand Israeli control and deepen illegal settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory.
According to Smotrich, 104 illegal settlements and 160 outposts have been approved in the West Bank since the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in late 2022.
Around 750,000 occupiers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian figures.
UN Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted in 2016, states that Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have “no legal validity” and constitute a flagrant violation of international law.
In a landmark advisory opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
