Israeli Committee Approves 1,122 New Housing Units In West Bank Settlements
The Israeli settlement of Maale Adumimin in the West Bank. Image by Getty Images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli planning committee approved over 1,000 new West Bank housing units.
The Civil Administration, the military body that enforces Israeli policy on citizens in the West Bank, on Wednesday approved the 1,122 new housing units in 20 settlements and outposts in the West Bank, according to Peace Now. On Wednesday tenders for 651 housing units were published.
The tenders were for housing in Emanuel, Ariel, Adam, Maale Adumim and Beitar Illit.
Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman had announced on Tuesday that the Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Committee would meet the following day to approve the new housing units. He also said it would advance planning for 2,500 others.
The approvals came a day after a 35-year-old Israeli father of six was killed in a drive-by attack in the West Bank in what is believed to have been a Palestinian terror attack. Right-wing Israeli government ministers responded to the attack by calling for the building of more settlement housing and the legalizing of several West Bank outposts.
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