Construction of housing units in Judea and Samaria is about to be reinstated by the subcommittee for settlement within the Civil Administration.
Some 296 housing units are to be built on land near the Samaria Jewish community of Beit El, where two buildings were to be demolished at the end of this month – another issue to be discussed tonight (Wed. July 22) at the subcommittee hearing on the issue. A base for Border Police is currently housed on the land under consideration for the housing project.
In addition, the subcommittee will discuss the construction of 27 housing units in Beit Arye, in southwestern Samaria, as well as 381 new housing units in Givat Ze’ev and 112 new housing units in Ma’ale Adumim.
Also on the agenda are requests for approval of dozens of new housing units already completed in Psagot and 22 more in Giv’on HaChadasha, as well as development plans for the Karnei Shomron industrial zone and the expansion of the Mekor Haim Yeshiva in Gush Etzion.
The subcommittee will also be asked to review plans to convert land from an open private area to one available for use in construction of public institutions and other structures.
Residents of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have been pressuring Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon over the issue of last year’s construction freeze. A letter was sent to Likud parliamentarians headed by the question: “Netanyahu is suffocating the settlements and the Likud remains silent?”
According to settler leaders, last week the prime minister said at a meeting, “We cannot develop the settlements further, but rather need to preserve what we have” – a comment the Likud later denied was said by Netanyahu.