[News] Israeli Ministry of Housing has plans to construct 53, 548 residential units in illegal settlements

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Ministry of Housing's Plans Exposed

author Thursday December 31, 2015 00:24author by Amanda Edmonton - 
Alternative Information Center
*http://www.imemc.org/article/74403*

    Documents obtained by Peace Now indicate that the Ministry of
    Housing (MOH) has plans to construct 53,548 residential units in
    illegal settlements. The plans are valued at over 330 million shackles. 

3,786 units are slated for immediate construction, 64%, of which are to 
be east of the separation barrier.

These plans also include 8,372 units in the E-1 area, an area on 
Jerusalem’s periphery.

Plans for settlement construction in the E-1 area have long been halted 
due to international pressure. Settlement construction in the E-1 area 
would require the forced displacement of over 2,000 Bedouins and rule 
out the possibility of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state by 
severing the West Bank into two.

The MOH has its sights on other areas of Jerusalem too: Peace Now 
revealed plans for a new neighborhood in Atarot, involving the 
construction of 10,000 units between Beit Hanina and Ramallah. Har Homa 
is planned also to expand by 2,000 units. In the Old City, the MOH 
intends to add 21 units in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

In addition to expansion, the MOH is plotting the construction of two 
brand new settlements in the West Bank – Givat Eitam (in a-Nahla, south 
of Bethlehem) and Bitronot/Brosh (in the northern Jordan Valley).

The MOH also seeks to recognize at least six settlement outposts, which, 
as of now, are even unrecognized by the Israeli government.

These plans directly contradict Israeli officials’ statements regarding 
settlement construction.

In October 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled the 
MOH’s plans to construct 24,000 units in the West Bank, including the 
E-1 area, in response to international scrutiny.

Peace Now found that in November 2014, the MOH, without any notice, 
hired architects to work on many of the cancelled plans.

In response to Peace Now’s report, the Prime Minister’s Office focused 
on the E-1 area, saying that plans to build in E-1 were drafted as the 
private initiative of Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel, “without the 
required authorization,” and thus have “no validity.”

According to the Palestinian News and Info Agency, the MOH has said that 
it “acts only according to approved plans and based on the decisions of 
the government and the Prime Minister.”

Peace Now’s report also shed light on the MOH’s activities in past years.

Between 2012 and 2015, Peace Now found that the MOH funded the 
construction of at least 4,054 housing units, 70% of which were east of 
the separation barrier.

One expansion projects was for the Beit Romano settlement, which sits in 
the heart of Hebron. Peace Now reported that the MOH gave it 1 million 
NIS to expand.

Moreover, the MOH gave at least 1.8 million NIS in recent years to local 
settlement authorities to entice Israelis to relocate to settlements.

Revelations about Israeli authorities’ intentions for settlement 
construction come as the Israeli government continues to confiscate 
Palestinian land.

On Tuesday, Israeli authorities issued a military order 
<http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30289> to confiscate 
500 dunams (500,000 square meters) of Palestinian land located south of 
Nablus. That same day, Israeli authorities issued another military order 
<http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30293> to confiscate 
370 square meters of private Palestinian land along the Hebron-Jerusalem 
road.
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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