Tel Aviv, January 7 (RHC)-- Israel’s Higher Planning Committee (HPC) has approved the construction of 1,936 illegal housing units for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli NGO Peace Now.
“Despite lacking a clear mandate, for this caretaker government it’s business as usual – Continue the massive promotion of harmful and unnecessary construction in occupied territory and in places that Israel will have to evacuate,” the organization stated in a press release.
According to the HPC, 1,150 housing units were approved for deposit (first stage of the planning process), while 786 units were approved for validation (second and final approval).
Of those units, about 89 percent will be erected in "settlements that Israel may have to evacuate under a future peace agreement with the Palestinians." Also, a plan of 180 units was deposited for Mitzpe Danny, an illegal outpost of about 50 families established in 1999 partially on private Palestinian land.
Outposts in the occupied West Bank differ from settlements as they are not “authorized” by the Israeli government. However, they are used as colonial tactics to expand illegal settlements and seizure of Palestinian land, as settlers set up them up to later get them legalized and recognized.
“Netanyahu continues to sabotage the prospects of peace, dragging Israel into an anti-democratic one-state reality resembling apartheid,” the activists said.
