Israel approves construction of thousands of new illegal settlements in the West Bank
August 7, 2019On Tuesday, August 6, the Israeli Civil Administration, the body that oversees the occupation of the West Bank, approved the construction of over 2,300 new housing units in the occupied West Bank. This comes two weeks after over 100 Palestinian homes in the West Bank were demolished, despite many having building permits from the Palestinian Authority. This came following an Israeli cabinet decision last week to build 6000 new housing units in the West Bank, raising fears of an Israeli attempt to annex the West Bank.
The new settlements will constitute a new neighbourhood of the existing settlement of Ganei Modi’in, located in the Ramallah district of the West Bank. The new housing units will be built alongside the separation barrier, a move which exposes the blatant discrimination of the occupation as, just two weeks ago, dozens of Palestinian homes near in the West Bank were demolished due to their proximity to the barrier and the ‘security concerns’ this caused.
Additionally, three settler outposts built without permits in the West Bank were retroactively approved, again exposing the hypocrisy of the occupation, as it is routine for Israel to cite an absence of building permits as justification for demolishing Palestinians homes, despite the fact that it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to receive building permits.
