Israel advances plans for over 2,300 settlement homes in West Bank

The Defense Ministry body responsible for authorizing settlement construction has advanced plans for over 2,300 West Bank homes.

During sessions on Monday and this morning, the Civil Administration’s High Planning Subcommittee cleared 1,466 homes through an early planning stage known as “deposit” while 838 homes received final approval for construction throughout the West Bank.

The batch of approvals is the first since the security cabinet last month approved a plan to grant 715 building permits for Palestinians in Israel-controlled Area C in the West Bank, where for decades only several dozen homes have been green-lighted for construction. Due to the political ramifications of the approval, several ministers insisted it be conditioned on the parallel granting of 6,000 building permits for Israeli settlers.