Left-wing watchdog says plans advancing for nearly 1,000 settler homes in West Bank

Israel has issued a tender for the construction of nearly 1,000 additional settler homes in the West Bank, an anti-settlement watchdog says.

Peace Now argues that the development of 974 new housing units would allow the population of the Efrat settlement, south of Jerusalem, to expand by 40% and further block the development of the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Hagit Ofran, who leads the left-wing group’s settlement monitoring, says construction could begin after the contracting process and issuing of permits, which could take another year at least.

Peace Now, which campaigns for a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict, accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of pressing ahead with settlement construction while public attention is directed elsewhere.

“While the people of Israel [set] their sights on the release of the hostages and an end to the war, the Netanyahu government is operating ‘on steroids’ to establish facts on the ground that will destroy the chance for peace and compromise,” it says in a statement.