Israel approves nearly 5,300 new West Bank homes; NGO calls out largest land grab in decades

A construction site of new housing projects in the West Bank settlement of Givat Ze’ev, 18 June 2023

Yael Freidson reports in Haaretz on 4 July 2024:

Israel’s Supreme Planning Council has approved this week to advance the building of 5,295 housing units in several settlements across the West Bank.

These construction plans include expanding settlements deep within the West Bank and legalizing the outposts of Mahane Gadi, Givat Hanan, and Kedem Arava as “neighborhoods” of existing settlements. Additionally, the council declared over 3,100 acres in the northern Jordan Valley as state land.

The committee reviewed plans for more than 6,000 units but ultimately approved a lower number since only the initial planning stage was approved for some projects. For instance, out of 1,006 planned units for the expansion of the Gevaot settlement, only 250 were approved. Overall, 3,080 housing units were approved for deposit, and 2,215 units were approved for validation.

Last week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that the security cabinet approved measures to “combat the recognition of a Palestinian state,” including promoting the construction of thousands of housing units in the West Bank and legalizing five illegal outposts. According to the far-right minister, these steps respond to the ICC’s chief prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as several European countries’ decisions to recognize a Palestinian state.

According to NGO Peace Now, the area declared state land is the largest single seizure since the Oslo Accords. The organization noted that 2024 saw a record number of state land seizures, with the state announcing over 5,800 acres in the West Bank as state land since the start of the year.

“Netanyahu and Smotrich are determined to fight the world and the interests of Israeli residents in favor of a handful of settlers receiving thousands of acres as gifts, as if there were no political conflict to resolve or war to end,” said the organization.

“It’s clear to everyone that this conflict can’t be resolved without a political agreement establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, but the Israeli government chooses to make peace and ending the bloodshed more difficult,” it added.

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