Sa-Nur is one of four former West Bank settlements approved by the Israeli government two decades after evicting settlers.
Published on 19 April 2026
Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Israel Katz attended the official reopening of the Sa-Nur settlement in the occupied West Bank, nearly 21 years after the illegal settlement was evacuated in 2005.
“On this exciting day, we celebrate historic reform in criminal expungement,” Finance Minister Smotrich said in a speech at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday, reports AFP news agency. He said Israeli officials were “killing even the idea of ​​a Palestinian state”.
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Authorities have approved 126 housing units in the northern West Bank settlement, south of Jenin, and 16 families have now moved in.
West Bank Settlements Council head Yossi Dagan was among those who left Sa-Nur in 2005, and described the return as “a personal closing of a cycle”, adding: “We have come back to stay.”
Reversing the disintegration policy
The Sa-Nour settlement was evicted as part of the disengagement policy, which also saw settlers removed from Gaza. Settlers have attempted to re-establish it for years, and it is one of four former West Bank settlements recently approved by the Israeli government in violation of international law.
In March 2023, the Knesset passed an amendment to the disengagement law that barred Israeli settlers from living in the former settlements of Sa-Nur, Homesh, Ganim and Kadim. Last May, Smotrich, himself a settler, announced plans for 22 new settlements in the West Bank, including Sa-Nur and Homesh. In December, Ganim and Kadim were included in the list of illegal outposts recognized by the government as settlements.
About 700,000 residents live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with settlement expansion increasing under the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, especially since the formation of his right-wing coalition following the 2022 elections.
Rights groups say settler violence as well as settlement approvals have further accelerated since October 7, 2023. On 11 April, a Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli settlers in Deir Jarir, near Ramallah, while the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reports March was one of the deadliest months of settler violence on record in the West Bank.
Last month, 34 new settlements were approved, according to To The Israeli organization Peace Now brings the total number of settlements approved since the formation of the government to 104.
