The Civil Administration has advanced approval for 2,166 new homes in settlements across the West Bank, official figures show, ending an eight-month lull in settlement expansion.
Many of the approved homes are in isolated areas of the West Bank outside of settlement blocs that Israel may hold onto in a future peace deal.
A picture taken on October 13, 2020, shows new housing construction in the Nokdim settlement in the Israeli occupied West Bank, south of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. (MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)
A total of 1,313 homes were given final approval, while another 853 were okayed for an advanced planning stage. Among those are over 500 homes in Har Gilo, south of Jerusalem, which will grow from 1,600 homes once given final approval.
The settlement of Kfar Adumim, east of Jerusalem, says it has gotten approval to add 132 new homes.
The Peace Now organization says the settlement uptick signals Israel’s rejection of Palestinian statehood and deals a blow to hopes of a wider Israeli-Arab peace.
“Netanyahu is moving ahead at full steam toward solidifying the de facto annexation of the West Bank,” it said in a statement ahead of Wednesday’s decisions.
A similar number of homes are up for approval at another meeting Thursday.
— with AFP
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
