Inside the Secret Israeli Cabinet Vote That Formally Approved Dozens of New Settlements

According to most accounts, the meeting was brief. There were no cameras, no post-event briefing, and no prepared statement from the prime minister’s office. While most of the world’s attention was focused on the skies over Tehran and Tel Aviv on the evening of March 25, Israel’s security cabinet quietly approved 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, ten of which were wildcat outposts that are now being incorporated into the state’s legal framework. This decision will probably last longer than the war itself.

It’s the kind of choice that, at a different time, would have resulted in phone calls, press conferences, and opinion pieces from Washington by lunchtime. It resulted in silence this time. The silence was a calculated decision to avoid upsetting the Americans while Israeli and Iranian forces were still exchanging gunfire, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the vote. As is always the case, information started to leak out once the ceasefire was maintained, first via i24, then Channel 24, and finally Ynet. Everyone is aware now. Official confirmation from the government is still pending.

Anyone who has observed the West Bank over the last 20 years will recognize this pattern. Occasionally, a few families with caravans and a generator live on a hilltop. Over time, a road, electricity, water, and finally a cabinet signature make the entire situation legally binding. That exact script was followed by the ten outposts that are currently being integrated into officialdom. The next chapter is the twenty-four new settlements, all of which are located in Area C, the portion of the West Bank that is completely under Israeli military and civil control.

The presence of IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir and what he allegedly told the ministers seated across from him made this meeting unique. People briefed on the room claim that Zamir warned that the army was already overburdened, that a combat battalion had been removed from the Lebanese border weeks earlier to deal with the escalating settler violence, and that the military would not have enough soldiers to protect every new dot on the map. He was against the plan. Nevertheless, the cabinet gave its approval.

Peace Now, which has been following these decisions for longer than the majority of the current ministers have been in office, described it as a frenzy, with a government rushing to elections and attempting to leave behind what it called “scorched earth,” realities that would be difficult for any successor to reverse. The math is impressive. The West Bank had 127 official settlements prior to this coalition taking power. It has authorized 102 more in less than three years. an 80% increase that was mostly hidden from the public.

The Palestinian Authority called on Washington to intervene and denounced the decision in terms it has used for years: annexation, displacement, and flagrant violation. Sweden and the European Union came next. In contrast, Yesh Din recorded 305 instances of settler violence in a single month—more than ten every day on average—including assaults, burning olive groves, and the expulsion of families from land they had farmed for generations.

From a distance, it’s difficult to avoid feeling that a decision has been made that is more subdued and long-lasting than any conflict. Ceasefires put an end to wars. Coordinates mark the conclusion of cabinet votes.