News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:
Advancement of Plans for Housing Units in the Settlements up by 250% in the First Quarter of 2016 Compared with the Same Period Last Year
While the government's declared policy in the settlements is that of a "planning freeze," during January-March 2016
plans for 674 housing units in the settlements were advanced (all over the West Bank and particularly in isolated
settlements), as opposed to 194 housing units in the same period last year.
During 2015, plans for 1,665 new housing units were promoted (1,044 of them were retroactively legalized after
having been built illegally and without a plan). This number constitutes a substantial decrease from 2014, during
which 8,606 new housing units had been promoted (801 of which retroactively legalized). The figures of the first
quarter of 2016 illustrate an upturn in the approval of plans, and sharply increase the total number of units
promoted by the current Netanyahu government. Additionally, as illustrated by the numbers above, while the
government states that it currently approves plans for already existing construction only, in reality in 2016 only
26% of the plans advanced constituted retroactive legalizations (compared with 63% in 2015).
A list of plans advanced in the first quarter of 2016:
Plan No. | Settlement | Date | Planning Phase | New Units |
Units retroactively approved (out of the units in the plan, without the Caravans) |
126/7 | Etz Efraim | 20/01/2016 | Discussion on Depositing | 34 | |
171 | Rechelim | 20/01/2016 | Discussion on Depositing | 97 | 61 |
405/6/6/1 | Alon Shvut | 20/01/2016 | Discussion on Validation | 60 | |
507/1/1 | Carmel | 20/01/2016 | Discussion on Validation | 27 | 27 |
121/16 | Oranit | 24/02/2016 | Discussion on Validation | 20 | |
201/3/12 | Ofarim | 24/02/2016 | Discussion on Depositing | 30 | |
216/7 | Giv'on Ha'hadasha | 24/02/2016 | Discussion on Validation | 22 | 22 |
322/א | Rotem | 24/02/2016 | Discussion on Validation | 181 | 17 |
115/14 | Alfei Menashe | 16/03/2016 | Discussion on Depositing | 24 | |
121/20 | Oranit | 16/03/2016 | Discussion on Depositing | 4 | |
235/2/4/א | Nerya | 16/03/2016 | Discussion on Depositing | 98 | 48 |
420/1/7/30 | Ma'ale Adumim | 16/03/2016 | Discussion on Validation | 46 | |
510/22/1 | Kiryat Arba | 16/03/2016 | Discussion on Validation | 24 | |
515/1 | Tene | 16/03/2016 | Discussion on Validation | 7 |
Palestinian Family to Be Evicted from Its Home in Jerusalem's Old City for the Purpose of Settlement
On April 5th 2016, The Jerusalem District Court denied an appeal by a Palestinian family residing in the Muslim
Quarter at Jerusalem's Old City and ruled that the family has to evacuate its home by the end of June 2016.
Settlers of Ateret Cohanim will take over the family's home. This was the last Palestinian family who managed to
remain in a building that the settlers took over some five years ago.
In July 2010, the settlers moved in to a big house near the Herod Gate at the Muslim Quarter, and called it "The
Vallero House." At the time, most of the Palestinian families who lived in the house were evicted, while one family
continued to live in the building, with the settlers as their new neighbors.
The story of the ownership of the houses begins in the 1930s, when the Palestinian owner of the house rented it to
another Palestinian who lived there for decades as a protected tenant. The grandchild of the protected tenant
continued to live in the house until today. In 1990, an offshore company called "Blue Stars World Investments"
bought the house from the original owner and gave it to the settlers group of Ateret Cohanim. The settlers' claim
in court was that the grandchild cannot keep the status of protected tenant based on his grandfather's status. The
court accepted this claim and ordered that the family will leave the house by the end of June 2016. This will
complete the settlers' takeover of another big compound in the Old City's Muslim Quarter.
For more details on the house and its location see here.