In Israeli Settlements, Money Is on Annexation Real Estate Boom

With its 20,500 residents, its university and its city status, the Jewish settlement of Ariel has been tipped as one of the areas likely to be included in a first wave of Israeli annexations taking advantage of US President Donald Trump's support | AFP
With its 20,500 residents, its university and its city status, the Jewish settlement of Ariel has been tipped as one of the areas likely to be included in a first wave of Israeli annexations taking advantage of US President Donald Trump's support | AFP
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In Israeli Settlements, Money Is on Annexation Real Estate Boom

With its 20,500 residents, its university and its city status, the Jewish settlement of Ariel has been tipped as one of the areas likely to be included in a first wave of Israeli annexations taking advantage of US President Donald Trump's support | AFP
With its 20,500 residents, its university and its city status, the Jewish settlement of Ariel has been tipped as one of the areas likely to be included in a first wave of Israeli annexations taking advantage of US President Donald Trump's support | AFP

In the Jewish settlement of Ariel, Perri Ben Senior can't wait for Israel to annex this part of the occupied West Bank, hoping it will be a boon for her real estate firm.

With its 20,500 residents, a university, and shopping centers, Ariel has been tipped as one of the settlements likely to be included in a first wave of Israeli annexations taking advantage of support from US President Donald Trump.

A controversial peace plan unveiled by Trump in January promised US backing for Israel to annex swathes of the West Bank, including Jewish settlements considered illegal under international law.

Speaking at her real estate agency, Ben Senior said she hoped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would forge ahead with implementing Trump's plan.

"It will raise the price of apartments and land because there will be more demand," she anticipated.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, other agents have seen a leap in sales since annexation began dominating headlines after the launch of the US plan.

Daniel Wach, whose real estate business is in the Eli settlement a short distance from Ariel, told AFP he has done "as much business in the past two months as the last few years".

"We closed six deals in the past 10 days in Alfei Menashe," another nearby settlement.

"The houses have been on the market for many months, so I asked the families why do you want to buy now," he said.

"They fear the prices are going to get higher because of the decision of the government" to annex the territory, he said.

- 'A normal place' -

If Israel does annex any parts of the West Bank, those areas will become subject to Israeli civilian law, rather than the military law currently in place.

"It's another reason to come to Judea and Samaria because now they are considered as normal citizens of Israel, it's a normal place now," Wach said, using the Israeli term for the West Bank.

While the details of the plan remain obscure, many assume that annexed lands will not become part of the future Palestinian state, which is also part of Trump's plan.

Currently, "people are afraid to buy in the territories because they say to themselves: 'What if tomorrow we give the territories back? Who will reimburse me? What about the house I bought?" said Ben Senior.

Since the Oslo accords of the 1990s, which were meant to lead to the formation of a Palestinian state, the population of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has more than tripled to 450,000.

In addition to those making their home in the West Bank for religious or ideological reasons, many Israelis have been drawn to the settlements by their housing costs, which are significantly lower than Israel's expensive real estate market.

- Opportunity -

Just 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) west of Alfei Menashe, on the other side of the "green line" between Israel and the West Bank, lies Kfar Saba.

There, a seven-room apartment on 200 square meters of land would cost around 4.5 million shekels ($1.3 million, 1.1 million euros), Wach said.

A similar property in Alfei Menashe would cost around half of that, he said.

"Immediately after annexation, the prices will jump around 10 to 15 percent up, and in around five, six, seven years from now, it'll go around 30 percent up, not less."

Zeev Epstein, who recorded a record number of sales last month, shares Wach's optimism.

"Annexation will make a big difference, said Epstein, whose real estate firm Harei Zahav (Hebrew for golden mountains) deals exclusively in Israeli settlements," he told AFP.

"It's gonna be a big market, we'll need to get ready, work hard for this opportunity."

While Netanyahu has yet to make any concrete annexation moves, despite being able to do so from July 1 under the US plan, Wach can already feel a certain momentum.

"When Israel decides this place is ours, the common reaction is -- ah, finally!" he said.



Meta's Zuckerberg Faces Questioning at Youth Addiction Trial

REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas Purchase Licensing Rights
REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas Purchase Licensing Rights
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Meta's Zuckerberg Faces Questioning at Youth Addiction Trial

REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas Purchase Licensing Rights
REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas Purchase Licensing Rights

Meta Platforms CEO and billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is set to be questioned for the first time in a US court on Wednesday about Instagram's effect on the mental health of young users, as a landmark trial over youth social media addiction continues. While Zuckerberg has previously testified on the subject before Congress, the stakes are higher at the jury trial in Los Angeles, California. Meta may have to pay damages if it loses the case, and the verdict could erode Big Tech's longstanding legal defense against claims of user harm, Reuters reported.

The lawsuit and others like it are part of a global backlash against social media platforms over children's mental health. Australia has prohibited access to social media platforms for users under age 16, and other countries including Spain are considering similar curbs. In the US, Florida has prohibited companies from allowing users under age 14. Tech industry trade groups are challenging the law in court. The case involves a California woman who started using Meta's Instagram and Google's YouTube as a child. She alleges the companies sought to profit by hooking kids on their services despite knowing social media could harm their mental health. She alleges the apps fueled her depression and suicidal thoughts and is seeking to hold the companies liable.

Meta and Google have denied the allegations, and pointed to their work to add features that keep users safe. Meta has often pointed to a National Academies of Sciences finding that research does not show social media changes kids' mental health.

The lawsuit serves as a test case for similar claims in a larger group of cases against Meta, Alphabet's Google, Snap and TikTok. Families, school districts and states have filed thousands of lawsuits in the US accusing the companies of fueling a youth mental health crisis.

Zuckerberg is expected to be questioned on Meta's internal studies and discussions of how Instagram use affects younger users.

Over the years, investigative reporting has unearthed internal Meta documents showing the company was aware of potential harm. Meta researchers found that teens who report that Instagram regularly made them feel bad about their bodies saw significantly more “eating disorder adjacent content” than those who did not,

Reuters reported

in October. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, testified last week that he was unaware of a recent Meta study showing no link between parental supervision and teens' attentiveness to their own social media use. Teens with difficult life circumstances more often said they used Instagram habitually or unintentionally, according to the document shown at trial.

Meta's lawyer told jurors at the trial that the woman's health records show her issues stem from a troubled childhood, and that social media was a creative outlet for her.


Israel Permits 10,000 West Bank Palestinians for Friday Prayers at Al Aqsa

Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer
Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer
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Israel Permits 10,000 West Bank Palestinians for Friday Prayers at Al Aqsa

Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer
Palestinians attend Friday prayers in a mosque following an attack that local Palestinians said was carried out by Israeli settlers, in the village of Deir Istiya near Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 14, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer

Israel announced that it will cap the number of Palestinian worshippers from the occupied West Bank attending weekly Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem at 10,000 during the holy month of Ramadan, which began Wednesday.

Israeli authorities also imposed age restrictions on West Bank Palestinians, permitting entry only to men aged 55 and older, women aged 50 and older, and children up to age 12.

"Ten thousand Palestinian worshippers will be permitted to enter the Temple Mount for Friday prayers throughout the month of Ramadan, subject to obtaining a dedicated daily permit in advance," COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry agency in charge of civilian matters in the Palestinian territories, said in a statement, AFP reported.

"Entry for men will be permitted from age 55, for women from age 50, and for children up to age 12 when accompanied by a first-degree relative."

COGAT told AFP that the restrictions apply only to Palestinians travelling from the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

"It is emphasised that all permits are conditional upon prior security approval by the relevant security authorities," COGAT said.

"In addition, residents travelling to prayers at the Temple Mount will be required to undergo digital documentation at the crossings upon their return to the areas of Judea and Samaria at the conclusion of the prayer day," it said, using the Biblical term for the West Bank.

During Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Al-Aqsa, Islam's third holiest site, located in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, the attendance of worshippers has declined due to security concerns and Israeli restrictions.

The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said this week that Israeli authorities had prevented the Islamic Waqf -- the Jordanian-run body that administers the site -- from carrying out routine preparations ahead of Ramadan, including installing shade structures and setting up temporary medical clinics.

A senior imam of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Muhammad al-Abbasi, told AFP that he, too, had been barred from entering the compound.

"I have been barred from the mosque for a week, and the order can be renewed," he said.

Abbasi said he was not informed of the reason for the ban, which came into effect on Monday.

Under longstanding arrangements, Jews may visit the Al-Aqsa compound -- which they revere as the site of the first and second Jewish temples -- but they are not permitted to pray there.

Israel says it is committed to upholding this status quo, though Palestinians fear it is being eroded.

In recent years, a growing number of Jewish ultranationalists have challenged the prayer ban, including far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir, who prayed at the site while serving as national security minister in 2024 and 2025.


EU Exploring Support for New Gaza Administration Committee, Document Says

Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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EU Exploring Support for New Gaza Administration Committee, Document Says

Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians push a cart past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensives, in Gaza City, February 17, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

The European Union is exploring possible support for a new committee established to take over the civil administration of Gaza, according to a document produced by the bloc's diplomatic arm and seen by Reuters.

"The EU is engaging with the newly established transitional governance structures for Gaza," the European External Action Service wrote in a document circulated to member states on Tuesday.

"The EU is also exploring possible support to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza," it added.

European foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Gaza during a meeting in Brussels on February 23.