Israel advances plans for over 2,300 settlement homes, most deep in West Bank

Men work on a new housing project in the West Bank settlement of Naale, January 1, 2019

Jacob Magid writes in Times of Israel, “The Defense Ministry body responsible for authorizing settlement construction has advanced plans for over 2,300 West Bank homes. During sessions on Monday and Tuesday, the Civil Administration’s High Planning Subcommittee cleared 1,466 homes through an early planning stage while 838 homes received final approval for construction throughout the West Bank. The majority of the homes advanced will be located deep in the West Bank, beyond the so-called settlement blocs.”

“The batch of approvals followed the security cabinet last month okaying a plan to grant 715 building permits for Palestinians in Israel-controlled Area C in the West Bank, where for decades only several dozen homes have been green-lighted for construction. Due to the political ramifications of the approval, several ministers insisted it be conditioned on the parallel granting of 6,000 building permits for Israeli settlers.”

houses in the Etzion bloc settlement of Efrat on November 27, 2018

“Among the plans approved by the Civil Administration this week were three projects in wildcat outposts, thus granting the outposts retroactive legalization: Givat Salit in the northern Jordan Valley, where 94 homes received final construction approval, Ibei Hanahal southeast of Bethlehem, where 98 homes were given final approval; and Haroeh Ha’ivri east of Jerusalem where an educational campus was given final approval. Haroeh Ha’ivri is located several hundred meters from Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin hamlet that the state has declared it intends to demolish because it was built without the necessary permits.”…

map showing the proximity of a new building project in the Ganei Modi’in settlement to the West Bank security barrier

“Seventy-seven percent of the homes approved Monday and Tuesday will be located beyond the planned or built route of the West Bank security barrier. In 2018, only 37 percent of the of the 2,100 Israeli construction starts in the West Bank were beyond the barrier and outside of the so-called settlement blocs that most Israelis believed will be retained in any peace agreement with the Palestinians…There have been some 20,000 starts of settler homes in the West Bank during the past decade, while Netanyahu has been premier.” (more…)