Israel Allocates 1bn Shekels for Colonial Bypass Roads in Occupied West Bank

Israel has allocated 1bn shekels ($345m) for the construction of "colonial" bypass roads on Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank, with the National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements saying Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced the approval.

The bureau said the new financing comes in addition to the 7bn shekels ($2.4b) previously allocated for the construction of 952km of bypass roads in recent years, framing the spending as part of a settlement expansion project.

Association France Palestine Solidarité

A separate report from WAFA said Israeli occupation authorities allocated one billion shekels for the construction of colonial bypass roads, adding that the bureau’s weekly report estimated an additional allocation of 1.075 billion shekels for new roads serving colonies as part of extra allocations from the Ministry of Finance budget for 2026 to 2028.

WAFA also said the 1.075 billion shekels estimate is in addition to seven billion shekels previously allocated for roads serving colonies in the West Bank, and that the new allocation represents approximately 30 percent of the roads budget.

The Israeli government approved the development plan for the E1 zone, described as a triangle of hills covering about 12 square kilometers east of Jerusalem in the West Bank, situated west of the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.

Conflits said the E1 project aims to build 3,400 to 3,412 housing units and infrastructure, and that by the end of August 2025 key steps had been taken with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announcing the scheme’s approval by Defense/planning bodies.

Association France Palestine Solidarité

Association France Palestine Solidarité said that on August 20, 2025, the Higher Planning Council approved plans to build 3,401 housing units in the E1 zone, and it quoted Smotrich saying, “E1 buries the idea of a Palestinian state and is part of the continuity of the numerous measures we are taking on the ground as part of the de facto sovereignty plan”.

The same Association France Palestine Solidarité report said the Israeli state launched the E1 settlement project in 1994 and that in 1997 the Israeli Defense Minister at the time, Yitzhak Mordechai, initially approved the settlement.

During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the security cabinet approved a plan to build roads that will reroute and separate Israeli and Palestinian traffic in the West Bank, and the Prime Minister's Office said it would reduce traffic jams and allow continued Israeli development in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim.

The Times of Israël quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the road dubbed 'Life Fabric' will "reduce traffic jams" and "strengthen Israel’s security," while Peace Now warned the plan would deal a 'fatal blow' to Palestinian communities in the Ma'ale Adumim region.

The Times of Israël said the new roads will connect Jerusalem to Ma'ale Adumim while offering an alternative route for Palestinian traffic to bypass Israeli checkpoints, creating two separate lanes for vehicles from the Israeli security perimeter and the Palestinian perimeter.

In parallel, the Palestinian Information Center reported that the National Office for Defending Land and Resisting Settlement said the occupation authorities allocated more than 1 billion shekels in additional funds to carve out new bypass roads, and it said the office’s weekly report covered the period from May 2 to May 8.