The major law in the legal field of planning and zoning is The Jordanian Law of Planning Towns, Villages and Buildings, No. 79 of the year 1966, as amended by Jordanian authorities until the year 1967. Further modifications were introduced in this law through the security legislation, primarily through The Decree of Planning Towns, Villages and Buildings, No. 418 of the year 1971.

By the virtue of the combination of the abovementioned Jordanian law and the Decree No. 418, the major planning organs established in Judea and Samaria are the Supreme Planning Committee and the Local Planning Committees.
The Supreme Planning Committee, is primarily in charge of establishing general policy of planning and zoning and approval of outline plans (schemes), appointed several subcommittees acting on its behalf in different areas (among those are the Subcommittee for Planning and Licensing, the Subcommittee for Transport Issues, the Subcommittee for Environmental Issues, the Subcommittee for Building Supervision, etc.).

Following the interim agreement between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Council, the authorities in the field of planning were transferred to the Palestinian Authority in Areas A and B. Thus, the major Local Planning Committees which continue to act in Area C are the Local Councils of Israeli settlements, acting within the boundaries of the setllements' municipal boundaries. The Local Planning Committees have no authority to approve new outline plans (this authority is given to the Supreme Planning Council and its subcommittees), while their primary function is licensing building construction according to the approved outline plans, filing proposals for outline plans serving the local purposes and supervising over the actual construction process.

It is possible to submit an appeal to the Subcommittee for Objections of the Supreme Planning Council within 30 days of receipt of the
decision of the local committee, subject to the payment of a symbolic fee. For the purposes of submitting an appeal it is necessary to contact the Central Bureau of Planning at the Civilian Administration of Judea and Samaria

As only few Israeli Knesset laws (such as fiscal laws, criminal laws, security service laws etc.) were applied directly on the inhabitants of the settlements in Judea and Samaria, a need to provide the Israeli settlements with certain instruments of self-governance arised. Following the validation of the Decree of Regional Councils Management of 1979, and the Decree of Local Councils Management of 1981, regional and local councils were erected. The councils are authorized to provide for the needs of local Israeli inhabitants within the specified municipal boundaries of the settlements, in areas such as welfare, education, sanitation, etc. The councils possess similar powers to those held by the local authorities within Israel, and thus, inter alia, are authorized to levy local taxes, form municipal corporations, license business activity etc. The supervision over the local and regional councils is vested mostly within The Ministry of Interior in Israel.