Israel approved more than 12,000 new housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank in 2020, a record figure, the Israeli anti-colonization organization “
Peace Now
”
said Thursday (October 15th
).
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The Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration on Thursday approved 3,071 housing units, the NGO reported, the day after the announcement of the construction of 2,000 housing units in the settlements, deemed illegal under international law.
These approvals make 2020 a record year since "
Peace Now
" began accounting for new housing in 2012, the organization said in a statement.
It does not exclude that the number of homes approved in 2020 -12,159 so far - will increase further by the end of the year.
According to the authorizations given Thursday, nearly 600 homes are to be built in the settlement of Eli, south of the Palestinian city of Nablus, and more than 350 in Geva Binyamin (Adam), near Ramallah.
450,000 Israelis live in the West Bank
More than 450,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, territory occupied by the Israeli army since 1967, where 2.8 million Palestinians also live.
The Yesha Council, the main organization representing settlers in the West Bank, welcomed the announcements.
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"
We must continue to build in Judea and Samaria (name given to the West Bank by Israel, editor's note) and in the Jordan Valley, continuously and freely, without political conditions and authorizations
," he said in a statement. .
These authorizations put an end to an eight-month period of effective freeze on new construction and come a month after the signing in Washington of agreements normalizing Israel's relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
US President Donald Trump presented his plan for a settlement in the Middle East at the end of January, including the annexation by Israel of the Jordan Valley (30% of the West Bank) and more than 130 Jewish settlements, as well as the creation of a Palestinian state in an amputated territory.
As part of normalization, Israel has pledged to suspend its annexation project, according to the Gulf monarchies.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the annexation was only "
postponed
" and that Israel had "
not given up
."
"
If the 'de jure' annexation may be suspended, the 'de facto' annexation of the settlements clearly continues
," blasted "
Peace Now
".
Palestinians on Wednesday denounced a policy of "
stealing Palestinian land
", "
taking advantage of international silence, normalization (...) and blind support from the Trump administration
."