Middle East Monitor / December 24, 2022
The new Israeli occupation government led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu have earmarked more than $2.3 billion for settler roads in the occupied West Bank.
On Friday the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom said, “this is an unprecedented budget” for settlement projects in the occupied West Bank.
The allocation of this huge budget for this project is part of the agreement between the Likud and the Religious Zionist party led by far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich, who asked for NIS8bn ($2.3bn) as a condition to join the coalition government led by Netanyahu. Settler leaders were part of the agreement.
The newspaper pointed to certain roads included in the project, but said that the details of these roads will be identified later on.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu announced the formation of his coalition government which is going to be sworn in before the Knesset by the end of Hanukah holiday on Monday.
