Planning for new settler homes triples in West Bank
Xinhua, April 12, 2016 Adjust font size:
Plans for new homes in the Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have tripled in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, a settlement watchdog said Tuesday.
Between January and March 2016, Israel's High Planning Committee of the Civil Administration promoted 674 housing units as opposed to plans for 194 homes in 2015, Peace Now, an Israeli human rights group, said based on figures taken from the committee.
Most of the new houses were planned in the most controversial areas of the so-called isolated settlements, which Israel will be required to evacuate in case of a future peace deal with the Palestinians, Peace Now said.
The figures of the first quarter of 2016 represent a sharp increase in the approval of plans by Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government after 2015 saw a decrease in the number of new plans.
In 2015, plans for 1,665 new housing units were promoted, as opposed to 8,606 homes in 2014, according to official data.
Israel seized the West Bank during the 1967 Mideast War, and later annexed East Jerusalem, in a move never recognized by the international community.
The settlements are illegal under international law and the international community opposes them, saying their construction undermine prospects of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Endit