The Supreme Planning Council of the Israeli Civil Administration intends to discuss a new plan to build 1,408 settlement units in several settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to what was revealed by the Israeli occupation's anti-settlement human rights movement, Peace Now.

The movement explained that the council has been holding weekly meetings since the beginning of last December to approve more settlement plans, with the aim of accelerating the settlement construction that was approved in these periodic meetings.

According to Peace Now, the new plans include building 460 settlement units in the Talmon settlement northwest of Ramallah, and 225 units in the Beit Hagai settlement south of Hebron.

She pointed out that this policy not only contributes to the normalization of settlement construction, but also leads to its rapid intensification.

The movement confirmed that since the beginning of this year, and with the approval of the new plans on Wednesday, the occupation has approved the construction of 7,702 settlement units in less than two and a half months.

She noted that one of the changes made by the Netanyahu-Smotrich government in June 2023 was to cancel the need for the defense minister’s approval for each stage of settlement construction plans, which facilitated the passage of plans at a faster pace.

She noted that in previous years, the Defense Minister decided to present settlement plans about four times a year, which led to the approval of thousands of units at each meeting. However, the recent change allowed for bi-monthly meetings of the Supreme Planning Council, which allowed for the approval of hundreds of settlement units at each meeting.

The movement believed that this policy aimed to normalize settlement construction and reduce public and international attention and criticism directed against settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.