Construction plans approved for reestablished Sa-Nur settlement

The Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, an agency of the Defense Ministry, approves plans for the construction of 126 housing units in the recently reestablished far-flung settlement of Sa-Nur in the northern West Bank.

Sa-Nur was one of four settlements in the northern West Bank evacuated concurrently with the Gush Katif settlements in Gaza under the 2005 Disengagement Plan, in order to provide territorial contiguity for the Palestinians in that region of the West Bank and reduce the presence of Israeli security forces.

Sa-Nur was re-inhabited last week after receiving government authorization in May 2025, with 16 families taking up residence in prefabricated homes, in anticipation of the planning permission approval.

Among them was Samaria District Council chairman Yossi Dagan, who was one of the residents evacuated from Sa-Nur in 2005.

“This approval is a clear message to our enemies: We are here to stay, Sa-Nur is returning to be an inseparable part of the map of Jewish settlements, and this is just the beginning,” says Smotrich following the approval of the plans by the Higher Planning Committee.

Smotrich has effective control over the committee and the Civil Administration due to his position as a minister in the Defense Ministry, and the subordination of the Civil Administration to a civilian director in the Settlements Administration in the ministry, which is itself under Smotrich’s authority.

The left-wing Peace Now organization, which opposes the settlement movement, denounces the approval of the housing units, asserting that Sa-Nur will be a “security burden” due to its isolated location in the northern West Bank.

“The establishment of Sa-Nur in the heart of a Palestinian population in an area without an Israeli presence is intended to sever any Palestinian contiguity and destroy even the little economic development possible for the Palestinians,” Peace Now says.

“It is inconceivable that after almost three years of war, the Israeli taxpayer should finance a dangerous messianic delusion of a government that has long since lost the people’s trust. We will all pay the price for this reckless abandonment.”