A Nov. 10, 2025, order, signed by the Israel Defense Forces Central Command head Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, regulates the boundaries of 13 recently approved Jewish communities in Samaria, including the Binyamin Region, and the Jordan Valley.
That order establishes the “jurisdiction zone” of each community, which formally demarcates their municipal boundaries, which is an official step closer towards the full legalization of these towns.
Bluth’s order solidifies the jurisdiction zones of Ahiya, Harasha, Migron, Nofei Prat, Adei Ad and Shvut Rachel in the Binyamin region; Sa-Nur, Havat Yair, Tel Menashe and Maoz Tzvi in Samaria; and Givonit, Ir Hatamarim and Gadi in the Jordan Valley.
Yisrael Ganz, governor of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, said Bluth’s order was a dramatic step in turning the Shiloh bloc (in Binyamin) into a major hub within Judea and Samaria. A total of six communities in Binyamin under his authority received their demarcation lines.
Ganz explained that regulating a community’s jurisdiction area is one of the most important steps in turning communities—established as part of the “young settlement movement” or as neighborhoods of other communities—into fully recognized independent localities.
He said the communities “will now be able to grow and develop—establish educational and community institutions, develop infrastructure, establish new neighborhoods, and more.”
He added, “Beyond the practical importance, this is also a moral and national moment—a major strengthening of settlement in Binyamin and in Judea and Samaria.”
Ganz said the Binyamin Regional Council is working to have the jurisdiction areas of three other communities approved, which he said has already been presented to the government, with an answer expected soon.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry and oversees Israel’s Settlement Administration, said that establishing a jurisdiction area is a significant stage in founding a community, providing certainty and paving the way for construction.
He shared that since the beginning of 2025, under the Settlement Administration, 39 new jurisdiction areas have been approved and 30 new communities have already been granted official status, pursuant to the government’s decision to establish 50 new communities in Judea and Samaria.
Smotrich said, “We continue to strengthen the settlement enterprise and deepen our roots throughout the Land of Israel. Defining jurisdiction areas is a Zionist, security and national step that grants stability, certainty, and a future to tens of thousands of citizens.
He added, “With God’s help, we will continue to act resolutely to implement the government’s decisions and establish the new communities on the ground.”
Lt. Col. (res) Advocate Maurice Hirsch, director of the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform in the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs and the former director of the Military Prosecution for Judea and Samaria, clarified the protocol on the matter to JNS.
He explained that Bluth, as head of IDF Central Command, is in charge of governance jurisdiction for Judea and Samaria.
Hirsch said, “Amongst other things, he (Bluth) is the head of all the town and planning committees and in that capacity, similar to the minister of the Interior in Israel, has the power to say, ‘This is a new town or city, and these are its municipal borders.’”
Religious Zionist Party MK Ohad Tal dubbed the move an advancement of de facto Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, which he said he proudly supports.
He told JNS that by establishing official jurisdiction areas, regulating these communities, and defining their boundaries, Israel was reinforcing its administrative and legal presence. He said it also creates “planning certainty” and ensures that development, infrastructure and security are implemented under clear Israeli authority.
Tal added, “Maj. Gen. Bluth’s decision is a practical step that translates policy into facts on the ground and solidifies long-term control and stability in the region.”
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, responded to the decision by thanking Bluth and calling the order “historic” and “important,” saying it represented a Zionist step of the highest order.
He said the move rectified the injustice of the 2005 evacuation of the northern Samaria community of Sa-Nur, a community from which Dagan himself was expelled with his family, as Sa-Nur is one of the four new Samaria communities that received jurisdictional boundaries.
Dagan said, “This is an exceptionally important move both for settlement and for strengthening security.” He said the main wave of Arab terrorism in recent years, most of which originated in northern Samaria, was a result of the erasure of settlements in the area.
“The only way to restore security to the State of Israel is to renew settlement in northern Samaria, as the Government of Israel has determined,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Jordan Valley Regional Council said it was grateful to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Smotrich for launching the process of setting community borders.
The spokesperson also thanked Bluth “for his strategic vision, deep understanding of the importance of the area, and leadership in promoting a new point that will bring strength, civilian and security reinforcement, and a future of growth.”
