This Wednesday and Thursday (1-2 January 2020), at least settlement 2,061 housing units will be promoted in various plans by the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration. This figure represents Settlement Watch’s estimation and there remain a number of programs that cannot fully be understood at the moment. Therefore, in our assessment, even more housing units will be promoted in these two discussions.
Our list includes the following:
- Rechelim – 7 units
- Elon Moreh – 107 units
- Zufim – 92 units
- Etz Efraim – 10 units
- Ariel – 12 units
- Givat Ze’ev – 136 units
- Karni Shomron – 120 units
- Ma’aleh Adumim – 63 units
- Mitzpeh Yericho – 147 units
- Halamish – 100 units
- Mitzpe Danny – 180 units
- Almon (Anatot) – 110 units
- Shvut Rachel (formally part of Shilo) – 534 units
- Haresha – 258 units
- Kochav Yaacov – 160 units
- Peduel – 25 units
It should be noted that the housing plan promoted for Mitzpe Yericho is to retroactively legalize already existing housing. The list also includes the retroactive legalization of the housing of two outposts: Mitzpe Danny and Haresha. The plan for Mitzpe Danny is expected to pass the first stage (deposit) while Haresha is expected to pass its second and final stage (validation), after which it will effectively become an authorized settlement, to be formally defined by Israel as a “settlement neighborhood” of Talmon.
Peace Now: “This is political decision by a prime minister without a mandate during an election campaign. Netanyahu, without authority and without accountability, is advancing more and more construction in the West Bank settlements at the cost of making it even more difficult for Israel to ever be able to reach a political agreement with the Palestinians. The next elected government must freeze settlement development immediately, resume negotiations with the Palestinians without preconditions, and strive to end this conflict through a two-state solution, lest the status quo continue until we cannot escape from a permanent one-state reality and lose our democracy in the process.”