Israel is planning to build 6,391 new homes in parts of the West Bank this year and to legitimise some 120 unauthorised Jewish outposts in the area.
A report in the Israeli newspaper, the Yediot Ahronot,cited the Israel Land Administration's 2005 working plan, under which Maaleh Adumim, a settlement of 30,000 people outside Jerusalem, would be expanded by 2,100 housing units.
The plan comes despite Israel's intentions to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank this summer.
The Israeli Defence Minister, Mr Shaul Mofaz, has ordered defence officials to drastically cut the timetable for withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank in an apparent effort to hinder Jewish extremists bent on disrupting the evacuation.
Israeli military officials are worried that opponents of the partial withdrawal might use force to resist evacuation.
Mr Mofaz told defence officials last night that the planned eight-week evacuation would give the plan's opponents too much time to disrupt it and to recruit reinforcements.
The government originally planned a 12-week pullout but shortened it to eight weeks recently. In response to Mr Mofaz's orders, the timetable could now be cut to four weeks, security officials said.
Thousands of religious Jews gathered in Jerusalem last night to protest the pullout plan, comparing the evacuation of 9,000 settlers to the Holocaust, where six million Jews were killed.
Opposition to the pullout has grown more strident in recent weeks, with some opponents sending threatening letters to government leaders, blocking major Israeli roads with burning tires and calling Israeli security forces Nazis.