State pushing ahead with previously approved plan to build additional units in West Bank settlement which will see its territory significantly expanded
By Itamar Fleishman, YNET
As US Secretary of State John Kerry continues his efforts to restart peace talks, Israel continues to push West Bank construction plans. There are plans to build 675 new housing units in the settlement of Itamar, Ynet has learned.
The construction plan was approved by former Defense Minister Ehud Barak prior to the latest elections. Of the 675 housing units, 137 are existing apartments that have now been retroactively approved.
The plan comes amid settler claims that the government is imposing a “silent freeze” policy in the West Bank whereby construction permits are being denied without an official cabinet decision on the matter.
The Shomron Regional Council, where Itamar is situated, welcomed the move. “Samaria has recorded an impressive 10% annual growth rate and provides thousands of young couples, both secular and religious, high levels of culture and education and vicinity to central Israel,” a statement said.
The question is will they really be built? Not so fast – this is merely part of a chain of bureaucratic approvals and just because there is approval does not mean the tractors and bulldozers are ready to start work. Israel is like the Soviet Union in that the state owns nearly ALL the land in the country – and it can take decades to put it to fit and legal use.
I wouldn’t be holding my breath waiting for construction to resume in the near future. Israel’s government has NOT authorized the construction of a single NEW Jewish town in Judea and Samaria since 1993. So nothing has changed on the ground under various Israeli governments since that time.