Fresh Air

Over the past year, AIJAC research has shown that new construction in Israel’s West Bank settlements languishes at a historic low point, despite the fact that the Israeli government had been announcing the advancement of plans for thousands of new housing units.

Recently, evidence has come to light that show those approvals have still not yet been acted upon. On October 31, Israel Hayom’s Hanan Greenwood reported (in the Hebrew edition) that the construction of thousands of new housing units had been effectively “stuck”.

Greenwood wrote:

“More than 10,000 housing units, which are waiting for approval from the High Planning Council of the Civil Administration, are not currently approved, despite the fact that a long time has passed since its last convening.”

In line with what I have asserted in the past, Greenwood confirmed thatconstruction in settlements has not moved forward – despite  a right-wing governing coalition that relies on the support of pro-settlement parties like Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit – because the Israeli Government has sought to  minimise friction with the White House during wartime. This has meant prioritising and placing the need for a reliable flow of weapons and ammunition from the US first, and the interests of the settlement movement last.

“Israel is managing delicate relations with the U.S. due to the Iron Swords War and against the backdrop of the elections” he wrote.

Greenwood added:

“In the settlements, patience is running out regarding the government’s conduct in recent months, and the fact that, although this is a right-wing government, it does not always act in accordance with the interests of Judea and Samaria. For example, while a special budget was allocated to the north and south, no budgets were transferred to Judea and Samaria to cover security expenses during the war.”

Greenwood concluded that as well as not providing final approval for new construction, a partial construction freeze appears to be in place for another reason as well.

“In some communities, the entry of Palestinian workers has not been approved [for security reasons], which effectively freezes construction.”

Illustrative photo: Trocaire, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons