RAMALLAH, June 4, 2026 (WAFA) – The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission expressed concern over the Israeli Knesset's approval of a new law granting extensive tax benefits to residents of dozens of Israeli colonies built on occupied Palestinian land, describing it as further evidence of Israel's determination to use state resources to deepen its colonial settlement project.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the commission said the new law grants residents of 58 colonies income tax reductions of up to 7%, with a ceiling of 10,000 shekels annually per person. The annual cost of the benefits is estimated at approximately 130 million shekels.
Head of the commission, Moayad Shaaban, said the legislation represents another layer of incentives and privileges provided by successive Israeli governments to colonists, including support for infrastructure, housing, services, education and transportation, with the aim of encouraging migration to colonies and strengthening their demographic growth.
Shaaban said security justifications cited by Israeli authorities serve as political cover for settlement expansion policies, noting that many of the colonies benefiting from the law are already experiencing rapid population growth and receive substantial government support.
He added that the law reflects the growing influence of the settlement movement within Israeli decision-making institutions, where legislation and financial policies are increasingly being used to advance annexation and colonial expansion agendas.
Shaaban stressed that granting economic privileges to colonies considered illegal under international law directly encourages settlement expansion and reinforces a discriminatory system that allocates resources and benefits to colonists at the expense of the Palestinian people living under occupation.
He said the legislation forms part of a broader package of legislative, administrative and financial measures aimed at strengthening settlement activity and accelerating de facto annexation plans in the occupied West Bank, in violation of international law and international resolutions affirming the illegality of Israeli colonies in occupied Palestinian territory.
The commission called on the international community to address these policies as part of a comprehensive colonial system that extends beyond settlement construction to include the allocation of public resources and economic incentives in support of an illegal colonial settlement project designed to alter the demographic, geographic and political reality of the occupied Palestinian territory.
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