Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party said 800 Jewish families registered within a month to join settlement groups it plans for the Negev and Galilee: 424 for the Galilee, 196 for the Negev and 180 for either.
The party's plan, which Smotrich unveiled in August, speaks of 40 new towns and dozens of farms and of adding a million Jews to both regions. It also calls for cancelling development plans already approved for Arab towns, which the party says take up too much land.
Smotrich said the settlement project would move from the West Bank to the Negev and Galilee. Bokra published the report on 24 October, saying the announcement came on Thursday.
- 800families registered
- 40new towns planned
- 1mJews the plan aims to add
Entered 22 Oct 2026. If a figure in this entry changes, the old one stays visible, struck through, with the new one and its date beside it. How we correct.