How Does the Israeli Government Fund Outposts?

NIS 71,870,000 was recorded as Ministry of Construction & Housing spending on unauthorized outposts for 2000 to 2004 in the opinion summary the Prime Minister’s Office of Israel published in March 2005, a figure the summary states was supplied by that ministry’s own Rural Building Administration. The summary is the Israeli official document that sets out how public money, caravans and services reached outposts holding no government decision. It treats unauthorized outposts as one class and separates no farming outposts within it. The Israeli publications used on this page carry no figure for grazing payments, agricultural support or volunteer-organisation grants directed to outposts.

Figure	What it counts	Who published it	Period
NIS 71,870,000	Ministry of Construction & Housing outlay on unauthorized outposts, the ministry’s own figure off a partial list	Prime Minister’s Office of Israel	2000 to 2004
105	Unauthorized outposts known to the author, stated as probably not the true number	Prime Minister’s Office of Israel	March 2005
90 of 140	Caravans from the 2003 acquisition placed at unauthorized outposts	Prime Minister’s Office of Israel	2003
64	Further caravans conveyed to unauthorized outposts	Prime Minister’s Office of Israel	18 August to 5 December 2004
About 450,000 dunams	Area C land allocated by the Custodian to the Settlement Division under permit agreements	State Comptroller of Israel	Audit to December 2015
25	Staff officers serving as the ministries’ professional representatives in the Civil Administration	State Comptroller of Israel	Audit September 2018 to June 2019

The 2005 opinion records State bodies financing unauthorized outposts

The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel published the summary of the Sason opinion in March 2005, a review the government commissioned into its own conduct. Its finding is stated in the summary’s own words: “The problem is State and public authorities took part in breaking the law. They are the ones who financed construction without a resolution by the political echelon, in contrary to government resolutions, with no legal planning status, sometimes not on State owned land, sometimes on private Palestinian property or on survey land.” The ministry spending figure carried above is drawn from that summary and is set out further in this site’s record on Israel’s own reviews of unauthorized outposts.

An outpost, on the opinion’s own definition, is a settlement point established without any government decision and standing at least a few hundred metres from an existing settlement.

The 2005 opinion names the World Zionist Organization Settlement Division

The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel states that the opinion examined the part played by the Ministry of Construction & Housing, the Ministry of Defense, the Civil Administration and the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization in financing and servicing unauthorized outposts. That is the Israeli official record of the bodies reviewed, and it is a review of the state’s own machinery by a jurist the state appointed.

The published English summary attaches no monetary figure to the Settlement Division. It gives one ministry outlay, the caravan counts above, and no breakdown by transferring body. The full opinion is Hebrew only and much longer, and no Settlement Division sum is banked here.

Which ministries does the 2005 opinion name as funders?

The Ministry of Construction & Housing and the Ministry of Defense are the two ministries the Prime Minister’s Office of Israel names in the March 2005 summary, alongside the Civil Administration and the Settlement Division. Each figure below is the reporting body’s own count of its own activity, taken by the author from partial lists the summary says were not complete.

Body	What the summary records	Period
Ministry of Construction & Housing	NIS 71,870,000 spent on unauthorized outposts, the ministry’s own figure, which the summary says does not settle with the ministry’s own working schemes	2000 to 2004
Ministry of Construction & Housing	90 of 140 caravans from the 2003 acquisition placed at unauthorized outposts, and a further 64 conveyed to them	2003, and 18 August to 5 December 2004
Ministry of Defense	81 outposts evacuated, only a few of them manned, on data covering outposts established after March 2001 only	To March 2005
Civil Administration, Infrastructure Dept.	The outpost data underlying the 105 count, which the author states was not delivered in full	To March 2005

Source: Prime Minister’s Office of Israel, Summary of the Opinion Concerning Unauthorized Outposts, published 10 March 2005.

The Comptroller audited Civil Administration staff officers in 2021

The State Comptroller of Israel reported that 25 staff officers serve as the government ministries’ professional representatives inside the Civil Administration, in an audit conducted from September 2018 to June 2019, and counted 314 Civil Administration employees, 202 Israeli civil servants and 112 Palestinian employees. That audit examines the administrative route by which a ministry acts in the area; it publishes no spending figure for any settlement point.

Figure	What it counts	Period
25	Staff officers serving as the government ministries’ professional representatives	September 2018 to June 2019
314	Civil Administration employees, 202 Israeli civil servants and 112 Palestinian	2019
About 450,000 dunams	Area C land allocated by the Custodian to the Settlement Division under permit agreements	Audit to December 2015
120	Israeli localities in Area C, 87 established and settled by the Settlement Division	Audit to December 2015

Source: State Comptroller of Israel, Annual Report 70C on staff officers and Annual Report 66b. Land allocated under a permit agreement is not land declared state land and not land built on.

The State Comptroller of Israel separately reported in Annual Report 66b, for an audit running to December 2015, that about 450,000 dunams in Area C had been allocated by the Custodian to the Settlement Division under permit agreements, and that 120 Israeli localities stood in Area C, 87 of them established and settled by the Settlement Division, holding about 100,000 residents. Land allocated under a permit agreement is not land declared state land and not land built on. The same audit relayed the Central Supervision Unit’s own counts of its own detections of illegal construction.

No Israeli body publishes an agricultural subsidy figure for outposts

None of the Israeli publications used here carries a line item for grazing payments, volunteer-support grants or agricultural support directed to unauthorized outposts. The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel published outlay, caravan and evacuation figures in March 2005 and no agricultural programme figure. The State Comptroller of Israel published staffing, land-allocation and enforcement figures in the 2016 and 2021 audits and no farm subsidy figure.

The State Comptroller of Israel reported in February 2023 that 115 families were evacuated from four Israeli settlement points at Migron, Amona, Ofra and Netiv HaAvot following High Court of Justice rulings, in an audit closing June 2022 that covers evacuation and the treatment of evacuees rather than the funding of farms.

Which figures here may not be added together?

The 105 outposts is expressly not stated as the true number, and the NIS 71,870,000 is one ministry’s own self-report off a partial list, so both are floors rather than totals. The Ministry of Defense’s 81 evacuations count only outposts established after March 2001 and are not net, since the summary records that some outposts were occupied again, so they may not be set against the 105. The Supervision Unit’s two sector shares, 28% and 27%, have different denominators, 13,481 and 6,605, and each is a share of that sector’s own detections across 1997 to 2013. The about 450,000 dunams and the about 100,000 residents carry the Comptroller’s own approximations and may not be restated as exact figures. The 100,000 residents belong to the 87 Settlement Division localities, not to all 120.

Questions readers ask

Which Israeli document records State funding of unauthorized outposts?

The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel published the summary of the Sason opinion on 10 March 2005, a review the government commissioned into its own ministries.

How much did one ministry spend on outposts?

The Ministry of Construction & Housing stated an outlay of NIS 71,870,000 on unauthorized outposts for 2000 to 2004, as recorded by the Prime Minister’s Office of Israel in March 2005.

Does the 2005 opinion separate farming outposts?

The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel published the count as one class of 105 unauthorized outposts in March 2005 and recorded no farming category within it.

What does the opinion say about the Settlement Division?

The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel recorded that the opinion examined the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization, together with two ministries and the Civil Administration, for its part in financing and servicing outposts.

How many outposts did the opinion cover?

The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel published a figure of 105 outposts known to the author in March 2005, immediately qualified in the same text as probably not reflecting the true number.

Where did the outpost data come from?

The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel stated that the data came from the Infrastructure Dept. of the Civil Administration, which the author records did not deliver all of it.

How much Area C land went to the Settlement Division?

The State Comptroller of Israel reported about 450,000 dunams allocated by the Custodian to the Settlement Division under permit agreements, in an audit running to December 2015.

How many Area C localities did the Settlement Division establish?

The State Comptroller of Israel counted 120 Israeli localities in Area C, 87 of them established and settled by the Settlement Division, on the Civil Administration’s own definitions, in Annual Report 66b.

Who represents Israeli ministries inside the Civil Administration?

The State Comptroller of Israel reported that 25 staff officers serve as the ministries’ professional representatives there, in an audit conducted from September 2018 to June 2019.

Does Israel publish grazing or volunteer-programme figures for outposts?

No figure of that kind appears in the publications used here: the Prime Minister’s Office of Israel published none in 2005, and the State Comptroller of Israel published none in the 2016, 2021 or 2023 audits.

What did the 2023 State Comptroller audit examine?

The State Comptroller of Israel reported in February 2023 on the evacuation of four Israeli settlement points and the treatment of 115 evacuated families, in an audit closing June 2022.

Are the caravan figures a count of all caravans at outposts?

The Prime Minister’s Office of Israel recorded 90 of 140 caravans from the 2003 acquisition and 64 further caravans between 18 August and 5 December 2004, which are two dated batches rather than a stock.

Sources

• Prime Minister’s Office of Israel, 2005. Summary of the Opinion Concerning Unauthorized Outposts. Prepared by Talya Sason, Adv. Published 10 March 2005, gov.il. Official record.
• State Comptroller of Israel, 2016. Judea and Samaria Area: Activity of the Supervision and Enforcement Unit and Aspects of Land Registration. Annual Report 66b. mevaker.gov.il. Official record.
• State Comptroller of Israel, 2021. Staff Officers in the Civil Administration in the Judea and Samaria Region. Annual Report 70C, English abstract, pp. 55 to 59. mevaker.gov.il. Official record.
• State Comptroller of Israel, 2023. Evacuation of Israeli Settlement Points in the Judea and Samaria Area and Treatment of the Evacuees. Interdisciplinary audit, February 2023. mevaker.gov.il. Official record.