Energy minister, settlements leader advance water, power infrastructure for new settlements

Energy Minister Eli Cohen and Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria District Council in the West Bank, have established a professional working group to advance the construction of water and electricity infrastructure for new settlements recently approved by the current government, Dagan’s office announces.

Both Cohen and Dagan state that the new development is part of a program initiated by Dagan in 2022 to bring a million Israelis to live in the Samaria district of the northern West Bank by 2025. There are just 49,000 Israeli residents of the Samaria district settlements at present.

In a recent meeting, Cohen and Dagan agreed that the new working group would be headed by the deputy director general of the Energy Ministry and the director of of the Samaria Regional Council, and include representatives of the Electricity Company, the Mekorot national water company, and the state Water Authority.

Dagan’s office declines to say exactly when the meeting took place, dating it to “just before Passover,” which began on the night of April 1.

Among the new settlements to be connected to water and electricity grids are Rehavam, Eibal, Homesh, and Sa Nur, all in the northern West Bank, among others. Those settlements were approved or retroactively legalized by the government in May 2025.

“This is a historic decision. We will ensure that the new homes that are built have lights and running water. We are applying sovereignty in law and in practice,” said Cohen, in reference to the government’s efforts to de facto annex large parts of the West Bank.

“[We have] before us the map of the ‘Plan for a Million’ in Samaria, from which we have decreed the new settlements… Based on this plan, we will fill the area together with roads, electricity, water and sewage [infrastructure], in order to bring the masses here — millions of citizens of the State of Israel to the heart of the land, to Samaria,” said Dagan.