Photo by
Yaron Blustein/TPS-IL on 19 April, 2022
22 New Communities to Be Established in Judea and Samaria, Defense Ministry Confirms
Jerusalem, 29 May, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- The Israeli government approved the establishment of 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, including the legalization of several unauthorized outposts, the Defense Ministry confirmed on Thursday.
“This historic decision will strengthen our hold on Judea and Samaria,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said. “It anchors our historic right in the Land of Israel and constitutes a crushing answer to Palestinian terror.”
According to the Defense Ministry, the plan includes the return of residential life to former settlements such as Homesh and Sa-Nur, which were evacuated in 2005 under Israel’s disengagement plan. A law forbidding Israeli presence in those areas was repealed in 2023.
“This decision paves the way for the renewal of Jewish settlement in Homesh and Sa-Nur — a process that corrects a historic injustice,” the ministry said.
In addition to reviving old sites, the decision calls for the creation of four new communities along the Jordan Valley, a strategic corridor that Israeli leaders have long insisted must remain under Israeli control. These communities, the ministry said, will enhance “national security” and help shape the future of the region.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the government’s move marks a shift in national policy. “Through hard work and tenacious leadership, we have succeeded, thank God, in creating a deep strategic change,” he said. “Settlement in the land our ancestors inherited is a protective wall for the State of Israel — and today we have taken a huge step for its strengthening. The next step — sovereignty!”
In addition to being Finance Minister, Smotrich holds a special ministerial-level role within the Defense Ministry overseeing the civil administration of Judea and Samaria. Till now, civil administration was the Defense Minister’s responsibility.
The 22 communities span various regions, including the Jordan Valley, Binyamin, Samaria, Gush Etzion, and South Hebron regional councils. Three of the new communities — Ir Hatmarim, Gevonit, and Tevetz — are slated for the Jordan Valley, while others such as El-Naveh and Rehavam will be situated in Samaria.
Some unauthorized outposts will be reclassified as independent entities rather than as neighborhoods of existing communities. That decision, made two weeks ago but only recently publicized, authorizes the Government Procurement Administration to allocate land to the Settlement Division and instructs Smotrich to initiate the necessary planning procedures — a process expected to unfold over several years.
Religious Zionist Party MK Orit Strock praised the move on social media. “We made a promise, and we kept it. New communities are being established in Judea and Samaria, closing a gap of decades in the settlement of the land and providing a Zionist response to vast spaces that have been neglected and abandoned.”
