Israel Broke Ground on 1,800 Settlement Homes in 2015, Peace Now Says

[Israeli]

The government's message to the settlers is that construction will be approved after the fact, the group says.

Chaim Levinson Feb 14, 2016

Israel authorized 350 new housing units and broke ground on around 1,800 homes in West Bank settlements last year, Peace Now said in a report released Sunday.

For a year and a half, urban planning in the settlements has been frozen and nearly no new construction has been approved. However, nothing bars local government from using existing construction plans. In the absence of new plans, efforts have been heightened to make good on existing plans.

According to the Peace Now group, 15 percent of construction last year, or 265 housing units, was done in unauthorized settlement outposts. Only a tiny fraction is being carried out with the participation of the defense establishment’s Civil Administration (the ultimate civil authority in the West Bank settlements).

In 2012, the state committed to setting up a criminal-complaint mechanism regarding building in the settlements, but the launching process is mired in bureaucracy.
Last year, construction included 1,550 permanent housing units and 250 prefab homes. Also, work began to prepare land for another 700 housing units.

Continued @: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.703086

[Israeli]

1. Full report here ....

2015 In the Settlements

14/2/16

Main Findings

@ http://peacenow.org.il/eng/2015Report