The figures published in the article above are no less astounding: compared to 10,13 housing units approved for construction in Judea and Samaria in the last year of Trump's presidency, <>,<> housing units were approved in the first six months of the current right-wing government – even though the United States has a president in contrast.
This is undoubtedly gospel. And the fact that Minister Smotrich – who is in charge of the Civil Administration, the body that approves these units – does not publish it publicly, shows that he understands that publicity can damage the construction momentum, and then his PR salary will come out at a loss.
Smotrich and Netanyahu. Amazing data, photo: Jonathan Zindel/Flash90
But there is a "on the other hand", and it is significant: we know the ordeal that goes through every balcony closure in Judea and Samaria, of almost impossible hurdles that must be overcome, in a long process that may get stuck for countless reasons - from the opinion of the Staff Officer for Archaeology or the Environment to a thorny boat bush in the lot, which may indicate that someone plowed it once and therefore it may be private land - and between deposit and deposit, many months pass.
When the plan is finally submitted for final approval, ostensibly a technical procedure after it has already been approved by all professionals, it is still impossible to breathe a sigh of relief because the "Spirit of God"—that is, the opinion of the U.S. government—hovers overhead. Even an hour before a meeting of the Civil Administration's Supreme Planning Administration, which will decide whether construction can be done or not, its employees can order the deletion of hundreds or thousands of housing units from the submission, in order to anger the American administration less.
President Biden at a campaign rally in Philadelphia // Photo: Reuters
The fact that building a house in a settlement is the business of whoever sits in the White House is nothing short of absurd, outrageous and humiliating, and it happens all the time. The long hand of the U.S. government is wholesale erasing Jewish dreams because such construction "distances the two-state vision," according to a White House spokesman.
A question of wink
And there's another asterisk: Our government also has a side to the data. Sometimes it is convenient for the government to count every hurdle that passes through a housing unit – there are units that have already been counted several times, because you have to wink at Americans in one eye and please the base of voters with the other.
Construction in Judea and Samaria (Archive), photo: Yossi Zeliger
But the real news is much greater, and has to do with a fundamental change in the building permit: If everything goes as planned, it will not be the OC who will decide whether the Zelikovich family from Karmei Yehotz will close a balcony, but only the professional echelon – as on the other side of the Green Line. Because the Jews of Judea and Samaria are citizens, and there is no reason in the world for a uniform to determine their future.
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