Israel Advances Over 6,000 Housing Units in West Bank Settlements - Israel News - Haaretz.com
In two days' time, Israel's Supreme Planning Council will discuss plans for the construction of 6,016 housing units in dozens of West Bank settlements, according to the agenda published on Wednesday.
The NGO Peace Now says that the plans include the expansion of settlements in the heart of the West Bank. The Council is due to approve, among other things, the construction of over 1,000 units in the outpost of Gva'ot in the western Etzion Bloc where there are currently 60 housing units.
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The plan, first reported by Israeli channel News 12, includes advancing the construction of a new neighborhood in the settlement Yakir, west of the road leading to it, effectively creating a new settlement. About 2,400 housing units will receive final approval, and the rest will be advanced to the next planning stage.
Last week, Finance Minister Bezalal Smotrich announced that the security cabinet approved measures "to fight against recognition of a Palestinian state," including moving forward on the construction of thousands of housing units in the West Bank and legalizing five illegal outposts.
Construction in the urban settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the West Bank, last year.Credit: Shira Diamant
He said that these measures were in response to the decision by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to apply for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the decision by several European countries to recognize a Palestinian state.
In March, the Supreme Planning Council announced the construction of 3,426 housing units in the settlements. The decision was taken following the terrorist attack near Maale Adumim two weeks earlier in which one man was killed and eleven wounded. Approval of the housing units was condemned by the German and Saudi foreign ministries.
Peace Now said, "It seems that from every direction, from cabinet resolutions to the work of the Planning Council, destruction of a diplomatic solution is the main endeavor of the current government. Since the start of the war, the Israeli government has been building, developing and investing every effort in construction across the West Bank, compared with the opposite attitude of investing inside the wounded and bleeding Israel since October 7."