Cabinet Approves $10 Million Drainage Plan for West Bank and Downstream Areas

Israel’s political-security cabinet on Monday approved a proposal from the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry to allocate 10 million shekels in 2027 for a new hydrological planning framework covering drainage basins in Judea and Samaria. The goal is to create a continuous planning system that protects communities, infrastructure and farmland both upstream and downstream, including areas inside the Green Line.

The ministry said the project will be led together with the Defense Ministry and the Civil Administration, working through drainage authorities whose jurisdictions border the area. Those authorities will map flood risks, prepare engineering plans and design broad protection measures for settlements and infrastructure in Judea and Samaria and in the downstream areas in Israel.

Officials said the plan applies the national “basin approach” to a region where runoff does not stop at administrative borders. They argued that rainfall in the West Bank can flow into settlements, roads and agricultural land farther downstream, and that Israel has lacked a comprehensive flood-management framework there because the area is not under full Israeli sovereignty and is split among different control regimes. The cabinet decision is meant to close that gap and enable organized basin-level planning there for the first time.

The ministry also said the measure is intended to improve flood protection, reduce damage to infrastructure and agriculture, and strengthen preparedness for more extreme weather linked to climate change. Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter said, “We erased the Green Line in agriculture. This is nothing less than a breakthrough and an event many have waited for for many years.” He added that the process would give planning institutions “eyes” in Judea and Samaria after years of “blindness.” Senior ministry official Dr. David Asaf said, “The nature and climate do not recognize borders,” and called the budget and planning model a professional breakthrough that would provide a holistic hydrological solution for residents uphill and downhill alike.