Minister of Settlement and National Missions Orit Strook believes the past few months have been “like a time of miracles,” according to a recording that was played Sunday morning on Army Radio in which the minister is heard talking to residents of the Givat Hanan settlement near Susya on Mount Hebron about the increase in construction in Judea and Samaria.
“For me, it’s like a time of a miracle, we’re in some kind of a miracle,” Strook said. “It’s like when you’re standing at a traffic light, and what do you hear? Beep, beep. And then when there’s a green light, you hear tick, tick, tick, like that.”
Referring to the guidance sounds emitted by some traffic lights in Israel to alert blind pedestrians, Minister Strook continued, “We want to accomplish as much as possible. As much as possible in the Land of Israel in general, and as much as possible specifically on Mount Hebron. In my view, this is a mission, truly a sacred mission.”
Last week, Peace Now issued its own version of the settlements’ miracle, with truly astonishing facts and figures that support Strook’s delight:
“The Supreme Planning Council approved today and yesterday (July 3-4) the promotion of 5,295 housing units in dozens of settlements throughout the West Bank. The construction plans include the expansion of the settlements located deep in the West Bank and the regulation of the outposts Camp Gedi, Givat Hanan, and Kedem Arba as “neighborhoods” of existing settlements (in addition to the 5 outposts authorized by the cabinet last week).
“For the first time since the establishment of Minister Smotrich’s Settlement Directorate, the committee’s chairman was a civilian and not an officer as in the past, and in addition, the audience included members of the Settlement Directorate, Civilian Deputy Hillel Roth, and one of the directorate’s legal advisors.
“The committee’s agenda included plans for more than 6,000 housing units. In the end, the number of approved units stands at 5,295 because, in some of the plans, only an initial stage of planning has been approved. For example, in the plan for the Gva’ot settlement, where 1,006 housing units are planned, only 250 units were approved.”
Strook said that “the state has not invested here for years and years, certainly not to the extent that the Palestinian Authority has invested and you can see it. You live here and you see it. All the left and all the anarchists, they all complain about Mount Hebron. I promised myself that if one day I would be in a position that could have an impact, my first move would be on Mount Hebron.
“This is what I told Bezalel when he accepted the position, I told him, Bezalel, I ask for Mount Hebron first, and he accepted it.”
