Israeli DM Approved 3,000 New Settlement Homes in West Bank

Many Plans Well Outside of Established Blocs

Israel’s repeated promises both public and private to slow settlement expansion to facilitate the peace process have never amounted to much, and Israeli NGO Peace Now is revealing another 3,000 settlement construction approvals by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon earlier this year.

These expansions were above and beyond previously announced expansions in metro Jerusalem, as the Israeli Defense Ministry only covers areas outside of the metro area, which Israel considers annexed and no longer “occupied.”

The biggest concern, however, is how many of these 3,000 homes are outside of the established settlement blocs, and on the wrong side of the “barrier of separation,” meaning Israel is continuing to expand in even the areas they themselves claim are to be part of a future Palestinian state.

Peace Now offered a harsh criticism of Ya’alon with their report, saying he has “become a rubber stamp of the Yesha Council of Settlements,” and has been trying to cover up many of the most controversial expansions.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.