Israel Launches New Settlement Housing and Opens Emek Dotan

The Israel Land Authority and other government bodies advanced settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank through two distinct initiatives on August 9, 2026. The Israel Land Authority issued a tender for 627 new housing units in the Kochav Yaakov settlement within the Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate. This project covers 253.7 dunams and moves to implementation 15 months after its April 2025 approval, with a bidding deadline of November 30.

Simultaneously, Israeli families began moving into Emek Dotan, a newly established settlement on Palestinian land in the town of Arraba, west of Jenin. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Knesset members, Israeli Cabinet ministers, and leadership from the Amana settlement organization. Emek Dotan is the first settlement in the northern West Bank established on a site where no settlement existed prior to the 2005 disengagement plan and is part of a Samaria Regional Council initiative to create 19 new settlements.

The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission condemned the Kochav Yaakov expansion, stating it is designed to "deepen the separation between Jerusalem and its Palestinian surroundings." The commission noted that 12 illegal settlement tenders were reported in the first half of 2026. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called such settlements a "flagrant violation" of international law, aligning with a 2024 International Court of Justice opinion that deemed the occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful.