Occupied Jerusalem, Sept. 3 (SANA) Israeli occupation authorities opened a new settlement in the southern occupied West Bank, the third in one week, amid escalating settlement activity and efforts to impose new realities on the ground and link settlement blocs at the expense of Palestinian territorial contiguity.
The Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) reported that the new settlement, inaugurated Wednesday and named “Ma’aleh Arugot,” was established along an axis linking the western and eastern parts of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, with the aim of strengthening the settlement presence and creating continuity between parts of the bloc.
Gush Etzion is located in the southern West Bank between Bethlehem and Hebron and is one of the largest Israeli settlement blocs in the area.
The opening followed the inauguration of two other settlements on Monday: “Makida,” also known as “Doran,” northwest of Hebron, and “Noa,” south of the Ganim and Kadim settlements, which were established on Palestinian land southeast of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
The opening of three settlements within days reflects an acceleration in Israeli settlement activity and the expansion of control over occupied Palestinian land, despite continued UN, Arab and international condemnation of settlements as contrary to international law.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank reached 778,567 at the end of 2024, including 333,580 in Jerusalem.
PCBS also reported that the number of Israeli settlement and military sites in the West Bank reached approximately 645 at the end of 2025, including 151 settlements and 350 settlement outposts, among them 89 herding outposts, in addition to 144 other sites comprising industrial, tourism and service areas and Israeli occupation army camps.
The bureau said Israeli occupation authorities seized more than 5,571 dunams of land in the West Bank during 2025, while the area of Palestinian agricultural land exploited by settlers increased by 245 percent between 2000 and 2025.
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