Pressure Mounts in US Over ’Israeli’ Settlements Transparency
By Staff, Agencies
Forty-two US lawmakers have urged the State Department to disclose how much the "Israeli" occupation entity is spending on settlements in the occupied West Bank, as scrutiny intensifies over settlement expansion and annexation policies.
Lawmakers addressed their request to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, seeking detailed figures on "Israel" funding for settlement construction and expansion in the occupied West Bank, as pressure builds in Congress for clearer oversight and accountability of settlement activity.
In a letter to Rubio, the lawmakers called for the enforcement of a longstanding US law requiring the administration to submit periodic reports on "Israeli" settlement-related expenditures and their impact on US loan guarantee programs provided to "Israel".
The signatories cited Section 22 USC § 2186, which obliges the State Department to prepare annual estimates of "Israeli" occupation spending on settlements. They noted that such data has not been regularly published for more than a decade.
The lawmakers requested detailed figures covering every fiscal year since 2013 and sought clarification regarding the methodology used to calculate settlement-related expenditures.
They argued that the absence of this information has hindered Congress's oversight responsibilities and kept the true costs of settlement expansion from public scrutiny.
The letter also reflects a growing trend among Democratic lawmakers to tie US aid and guarantees to increased transparency concerning "Israeli" activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The congressional initiative comes as settlement activity in the occupied West Bank continues to intensify.
According to data cited by the New Jewish Narrative organization, 2025 witnessed the establishment of 86 new settlement outposts and the official approval of 54 settlements. During the same period, the "Israeli" occupation entity advanced plans for approximately 30,000 new settlement housing units.
The organization also reported that more than 6,200 additional settlement units have been approved since the beginning of 2026, in what human rights groups and international organizations have described as the largest wave of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank in recent years.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has warned against statements and measures announced by "Israeli" far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding plans to take control of the city of al-Khalil, calling them an "unprecedented escalation aimed at entrenching occupation and expanding control" in the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, the Resistance group said the moves represent a “desperate attempt” to extend “Israeli” control over al-Khalil and its surroundings as part of a broader colonial project targeting the entire West Bank, accelerating settlement expansion, annexation, and displacement efforts.
Hamas said these measures would not alter the historical and geographical reality of al-Khalil, adding that the city and the wider Palestinian territories "will remain resistant to Judaization efforts." It further stressed that such decisions would not grant legitimacy to "Israeli" settlement activity.
The group called on Palestinians to further entrench their attachment to the land, escalate opposition to annexation and settlement policies, and intensify resistance in various forms against ongoing "Israeli" policies.
