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Housing Ministry working on plans for 55,548 settlement homes — Peace Now
The Housing Ministry is working on settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem valued at more than NIS 330 million ($85 million), the Peace Now organization said Monday, basing its claim on ministry documents it obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
The vast majority of contracts were signed between March 2013 and May 2015, when Uri Ariel of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party was housing minister. He currently serves as minister of agriculture and rural development.
Peace Now, which campaigns for a negotiated two-state agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, obtained 200 pages of ministry documentation, with tables containing more than 1,000 lines of data, following a legal petition.
The organization claimed in a report Monday that this data and other sources reveal the ministry to be working on plans for 55,548 units in West Bank settlements, half of which are located east of the West Bank security barrier.
The international community regards as illegal all settlements in lands conquered by Israel during the 1967 Six Day war and has backed Palestinian claims that continued construction in these areas presents a major stumbling block to an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
The documents also confirm “post-facto legalization/approval of at least six illegal outposts,” plans to create new settlements south of Bethlehem and in the northern Jordan Valley (the latter on the site of an illegal outpost established in 2013), projects to expand smaller settlements into bigger towns, and plans for 8,372 units in the E1 area slated to more closely connect Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem and make it harder for any future Palestinian state to establish territorial contiguity, Peace Now said.
The Peace Now report detailed what it said are efforts to create a buffer ring around Jerusalem, which will seal Palestinian East Jerusalem off from Ramallah in the north — the seat of the Palestinian Authority — and Bethlehem in
The Housing Ministry is working on settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem valued at more than NIS 330 million ($85 million), the Peace Now organization said Monday, basing its claim on ministry documents it obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
The vast majority of contracts were signed between March 2013 and May 2015, when Uri Ariel of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party was housing minister. He currently serves as minister of agriculture and rural development.
Peace Now, which campaigns for a negotiated two-state agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, obtained 200 pages of ministry documentation, with tables containing more than 1,000 lines of data, following a legal petition.
The organization claimed in a report Monday that this data and other sources reveal the ministry to be working on plans for 55,548 units in West Bank settlements, half of which are located east of the West Bank security barrier.
Uri Ariel touring a construction site in the settlement of Kochav Yaakov in August 2013. (photo credit: Flash90)
The international community regards as illegal all settlements in lands conquered by Israel during the 1967 Six Day war and has backed Palestinian claims that continued construction in these areas presents a major stumbling block to an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
The documents also confirm “post-facto legalization/approval of at least six illegal outposts,” plans to create new settlements south of Bethlehem and in the northern Jordan Valley (the latter on the site of an illegal outpost established in 2013), projects to expand smaller settlements into bigger towns, and plans for 8,372 units in the E1 area slated to more closely connect Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem and make it harder for any future Palestinian state to establish territorial contiguity, Peace Now said.
Housing Minister and Kulanu MK Yoav Galant. (screen capture: Ynet News)
Israel’s Housing Minister Yoav Galant on Monday denied any plans to build in E1.
The Peace Now report detailed what it said are efforts to create a buffer ring around Jerusalem, which will seal Palestinian East Jerusalem off from Ramallah in the north — the seat of the Palestinian Authority — and Bethlehem in the south.
It said the ministry has spent more than NIS 2 million ($515,000) on plans for a massive 10,000-unit housing project in Atarot (in northern Jerusalem, between Beit Hanina and Ramallah). If implemented, this would be the first new neighborhood in East Jerusalem since the controversial establishment of Har Homa by Netanyahu in 1997 and would cut Palestinian East Jerusalem off from Ramallah.
A further 2,000 units are planned to connect Har Homa westwards to a neighborhood being planned on the nearby hilltop of Givat Hamatos, cutting Bethlehem off from the city’s southern Palestinian neighborhoods of Beit Zafafa and Sharafat, Peace Now said.
Housing Ministry working on plans for 55,548 settlement homes -- Peace Now | The Times of Israel
The Housing Ministry is working on settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem valued at more than NIS 330 million ($85 million), the Peace Now organization said Monday, basing its claim on ministry documents it obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
The vast majority of contracts were signed between March 2013 and May 2015, when Uri Ariel of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party was housing minister. He currently serves as minister of agriculture and rural development.
Peace Now, which campaigns for a negotiated two-state agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, obtained 200 pages of ministry documentation, with tables containing more than 1,000 lines of data, following a legal petition.
The organization claimed in a report Monday that this data and other sources reveal the ministry to be working on plans for 55,548 units in West Bank settlements, half of which are located east of the West Bank security barrier.
The international community regards as illegal all settlements in lands conquered by Israel during the 1967 Six Day war and has backed Palestinian claims that continued construction in these areas presents a major stumbling block to an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
The documents also confirm “post-facto legalization/approval of at least six illegal outposts,” plans to create new settlements south of Bethlehem and in the northern Jordan Valley (the latter on the site of an illegal outpost established in 2013), projects to expand smaller settlements into bigger towns, and plans for 8,372 units in the E1 area slated to more closely connect Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem and make it harder for any future Palestinian state to establish territorial contiguity, Peace Now said.
The Peace Now report detailed what it said are efforts to create a buffer ring around Jerusalem, which will seal Palestinian East Jerusalem off from Ramallah in the north — the seat of the Palestinian Authority — and Bethlehem in
The Housing Ministry is working on settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem valued at more than NIS 330 million ($85 million), the Peace Now organization said Monday, basing its claim on ministry documents it obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
The vast majority of contracts were signed between March 2013 and May 2015, when Uri Ariel of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party was housing minister. He currently serves as minister of agriculture and rural development.
Peace Now, which campaigns for a negotiated two-state agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, obtained 200 pages of ministry documentation, with tables containing more than 1,000 lines of data, following a legal petition.
The organization claimed in a report Monday that this data and other sources reveal the ministry to be working on plans for 55,548 units in West Bank settlements, half of which are located east of the West Bank security barrier.
Uri Ariel touring a construction site in the settlement of Kochav Yaakov in August 2013. (photo credit: Flash90)
The international community regards as illegal all settlements in lands conquered by Israel during the 1967 Six Day war and has backed Palestinian claims that continued construction in these areas presents a major stumbling block to an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
The documents also confirm “post-facto legalization/approval of at least six illegal outposts,” plans to create new settlements south of Bethlehem and in the northern Jordan Valley (the latter on the site of an illegal outpost established in 2013), projects to expand smaller settlements into bigger towns, and plans for 8,372 units in the E1 area slated to more closely connect Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem and make it harder for any future Palestinian state to establish territorial contiguity, Peace Now said.
Housing Minister and Kulanu MK Yoav Galant. (screen capture: Ynet News)
Israel’s Housing Minister Yoav Galant on Monday denied any plans to build in E1.
The Peace Now report detailed what it said are efforts to create a buffer ring around Jerusalem, which will seal Palestinian East Jerusalem off from Ramallah in the north — the seat of the Palestinian Authority — and Bethlehem in the south.
It said the ministry has spent more than NIS 2 million ($515,000) on plans for a massive 10,000-unit housing project in Atarot (in northern Jerusalem, between Beit Hanina and Ramallah). If implemented, this would be the first new neighborhood in East Jerusalem since the controversial establishment of Har Homa by Netanyahu in 1997 and would cut Palestinian East Jerusalem off from Ramallah.
A further 2,000 units are planned to connect Har Homa westwards to a neighborhood being planned on the nearby hilltop of Givat Hamatos, cutting Bethlehem off from the city’s southern Palestinian neighborhoods of Beit Zafafa and Sharafat, Peace Now said.
Housing Ministry working on plans for 55,548 settlement homes -- Peace Now | The Times of Israel
