To date, Israel has established 35 settlements, spread along the Golan from north to south, and inhabited by approximately 29,000 settlers. In October 2021, the occupation government announced, at its meeting in Khesfin settlement, its plan until 2026 to double the number of settlers in the Golan, by building 7,000 new housing units in the settlements, including 3,000 housing units in Katzrin settlement and 4,000 units in the rest of the settlements. In addition, the Israeli government approved a project to establish two new settlements in the southern Golan. The Occupied Syrian Golan is a rich volcanic plateau with extremely fertile soil. The region is home to a huge variety of valuable natural resources, making it an ideal location for settlements and settlement industries. Since the occupation began, the Israeli authorities have aimed to implement policies controlling the valuable resources in the region, in particular, the land and the water. In recent times, this has manifested itself through Israel’s encouragement of the establishment of industries and businesses in the region, which exploit these natural resources for commercial gain. In order to attract more settlers each year, the Israeli authorities are building new infrastructure and factories and creating various other economic opportunities. 

The construction of the settlements was accompanied by the control over the sources of natural resources in the Golan, the most important of which is water. Over the years, the occupation authorities built 16 water reservoirs, with a capacity of 45 million m3, to cover the needs of the agricultural sector of the settlements which rely primarily on agriculture for their economy, cow breeding, and tourism. As for Katzrin, the biggest settlement, it considers the administrative center of the settlements and a center for companies operating in the Golan.