Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced on Tuesday that $37 million would be allocated to develop more than 70 alleged Jewish heritage sites in the West Bank.
“This is a Zionist act of the highest order. A people without a past has no future,” Smotrich said on X.
The move occurs amid increased illegal settlement expansion in the occupied territory.
The funding was approved by a government steering committee. The allocation follows an earlier $83 million program approved in May that forms a wider effort to expand Israeli authority over sites designated as Jewish heritage locations throughout the West Bank and Jordan Valley.
Smotrich did not specify the sites included in the plan. However, he has previously sought to control sites such as Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem. In May, he made an explicit threat to “erase” the agreements that confirmed Palestinian ownership of the site more than 30 years ago. Since his tour of the site, Israeli incursions into the area have increased.
The move coincides with the approval of the first reading of a bill to establish a “Judea and Samaria Heritage Authority” by the Knesset in May. The proposal also seeks to guarantee, by law, funding for the authority’s activities within the budget of the Ministry of Heritage.
Palestinian officials have criticized the plans, arguing that they are designed to increase Israeli control over occupied territory and facilitate further settlement expansion. Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law.
