From the Golan to the West Bank: Israel accelerates occupation with settlements

As international attention continues to be focused on tensions with Iran, the Israeli government has taken a further step in another key direction: occupation. With little media fanfare, it has approved a plan of 307 million euros to strengthen the Israeli presence in settlements in the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory that the international community continues to consider occupied by Israel.The project, planned for the period 2026-2030, aims to turn Katzrin, an Israeli settlement in the west, into "the first city of the Golan," in the words of Ze'ev Elkin, a member of the Ministry of Finance. According to various Israeli media, the plan includes investments in infrastructure, public services —such as hospitals and veterinary centers—, universities, and housing. All with a clear objective: to attract at least 3,000 Israeli families to the territory.The announcement came after a meeting in Jerusalem between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and local Golan leaders, such as Yehuda Dua and Uri Kellner. The message was unequivocal: the government not only maintains its commitment to settlements but wants to intensify it. On numerous occasions, Netanyahu has stated that the Golan will remain under Israeli control, a statement that clashes with international law. The Golan Heights have been recognized as territory occupied by Israel since 1967, after the Six-Day War, and were formally annexed in 1981."As the logic of Israel's colonial project is to obtain the land without the indigenous population, the Golan Heights are considered a successful model of expropriation and expansion, unlike the West Bank and Gaza," explains to ARA Neve Gordon, an Israeli academic specializing in politics, human rights, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a professor at Queen Mary University of London.According to him, the key lies in 1967: "The ethnic cleansing was almost complete and, as a result, there has been no sustained resistance to Israeli rule. About 130,000 Syrians fled and could not return, and only about 5,000 remained. This allowed the Golan to be integrated into both domestic law and the Israeli public imagination." The result is that, today, for a large majority of Israeli Jews —more than 90%, according to Gordon— the Golan is already part of Israel. This is a clear contrast with the West Bank, where the Palestinian presence has prevented full integration. A pattern of annexation

The expansion of settlements in the Golan is not an exception, but part of a pattern. The settlement policy deployed there presents clear parallels with what has been happening for decades in the West Bank: a combination of civilian presence and state support to consolidate control over disputed territories, always under the umbrella of security.In the West Bank, more than 700,000 Israeli settlers live today in settlements scattered throughout the territory. And the pace does not stop. In recent weeks, the government has approved 34 new settlements, in a decision that, according to the Israeli organization Peace Now, was made "secretly".Israeli media, such as Channel 24 or the newspaper Haaretz, have described the decision as the largest number of settlements ever approved in a single government session. According to this information, nine of the 34 approved settlements are existing outposts (settlements that are illegal even under Israeli law, as they are built without government authorization) which will now be retroactively legalized, while the rest have not yet been built. In total, the plan includes 20 new settlements, nine outposts, two expansions, and three nuclei that will become independent from existing settlements. Settlements and outposts vary in size, and can range from a single dwelling to multi-story building complexes.“Outposts are like settlements: an instrument of expropriation and expansion —describes Gordon—. Outposts, like settlements, are illegal under international law, but they were introduced just over two decades ago, after a US-led settlement freeze, and have ended up functioning as a tool to legitimize formal settlements: they are presented as their illegal version, when in reality both are,” he adds.The phenomenon, far from being isolated, is part of a sustained policy over time. Since 1967, settlements have been a central piece of Israeli strategy, but under Netanyahu's governments their expansion has accelerated. Israeli organizations such as ACLED or B’Tselem and analysis centers such as Chatham House warn of a simultaneous increase in settlements, land confiscations, and settler violence, especially since the start of the offensive in Gaza.Since the arrival of the current government, 103 new settlements have been approved, adding to the 127 already existing. If the legalization of outposts is added, the total in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has risen from 141 in 2022 to 210 currently, according to data cited by Al-Jazeera. In parallel, the government has allocated 119 million euros to the Ministry of Settlements and National Missions, the body responsible for authorizing these implantations.