Israel's finance minister announced Tuesday that $37 million will be allocated to develop more than 70 alleged Jewish heritage sites in the West Bank, a move Palestinian officials say is designed to deepen Israeli control over occupied territory and pave the way for further settlement expansion.
Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister within the Defense Ministry with authority over civilian affairs in the West Bank, said on X that the funding represents "a Zionist act of the highest order. A people without a past has no future." The allocation was approved by a government steering committee.
Part of a Wider Annexation Strategy
The $37 million program follows an earlier $83 million allocation approved about three months ago in May. Together, the two programs form what observers describe as a coordinated effort to expand Israeli authority over sites designated as Jewish heritage locations throughout the West Bank and Jordan Valley — territory that has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967 and where international law prohibits the transfer of a civilian population.
Smotrich didn't specify which sites are included in the latest plan. But he's previously sought control over locations such as Solomon's Pools near Bethlehem, and in May made an explicit threat to "erase" agreements that confirmed Palestinian ownership of the site more than 30 years ago. Since his tour of Solomon's Pools, Israeli incursions into the area have increased, according to the announcement.
The timing coincides with legislative action in the Knesset. About three months ago in May, lawmakers approved the first reading of a bill to establish a "Judea and Samaria Heritage Authority" — using the biblical names for the West Bank that signal ideological claims to the territory. The proposal seeks to guarantee, by law, funding for the authority's activities within the budget of the Ministry of Heritage.
Obstacles to a Two-State Solution
Palestinian officials have criticized the plans, arguing they're designed to increase Israeli control over occupied territory and facilitate further settlement expansion. The move comes amid what multiple international monitoring groups have documented as accelerating illegal settlement growth across the West Bank.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law — a position held by the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the vast majority of the international community. The settlements house more than 700,000 Israeli civilians living on land that would form part of a future Palestinian state under any negotiated two-state framework.
The heritage site designation carries practical consequences beyond symbolism. It typically brings increased Israeli security presence, restricted Palestinian access to surrounding areas, and infrastructure development that connects the sites to Israeli settlement blocs rather than Palestinian population centers. For Palestinian farmers and residents near these locations, the designation often means loss of access to agricultural land and increased friction with Israeli forces.
Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionism party and openly opposes Palestinian statehood, has used his dual role as finance minister and minister within the Defense Ministry to advance settlement expansion and annex de facto control over parts of the West Bank. The heritage site funding represents one mechanism for achieving what he and his political allies describe as Israeli sovereignty over the entire territory.
Why This Matters:
The $120 million combined allocation for West Bank heritage sites isn't about archaeology or historical preservation — it's about control. Each site designated as Jewish heritage becomes a foothold for expanded Israeli authority in occupied territory, bringing security forces, restricting Palestinian movement, and creating facts on the ground that make a future land partition harder to imagine. For the millions of Palestinians living under military occupation, these programs represent another layer of dispossession: not just settlements on their land, but the rewriting of ownership itself through heritage claims backed by state funding and military enforcement. The international community has consistently called settlement expansion the primary obstacle to a two-state solution. Programs like this one don't just expand settlements — they embed Israeli civilian infrastructure so deeply into the West Bank that the possibility of territorial compromise becomes more remote with each budget allocation. That's the point, according to Smotrich's own words. And it's why Palestinian officials see this not as heritage preservation, but as annexation by another name.