Tag Archive for new construction

IDF to vacate huge military bases in central Israel

Government to fund IDF relocation from current bases in central Israel to build 60,000 new homes.

By Avital Lahav

 

An agreement to vacate IDF bases in central Israel and replace them with housing was finalized on Wednesday.

Tzriffin military structures to be cleared in stages. – Photo: Israel’s Ministry of Defense

Director General of the PMO Harel Locker, budget division director Amir Levy, and Director General of the Ministry of Defense Dan Harel conducted the deal arranging the timetable and funding for the plan with representatives of the Israel Land Authority. The program intends to build 60,000 new homes.

The arrangement involves vacating the bases in Tel Hashomer, Tzrifin, and Sirkin, as well as a partially vacated base in Ramat Gan. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem municipality approves permits for 380 housing units in E. Jerusalem neighborhoods

 

Meretz members says Jerusalem officials are compromising any chance of reaching agreement with Palestinians by taking advantage of elections to expand ‘settlements’.

By AFP

 

Israeli authorities gave final approval on Wednesday for the construction of 380 new housing units in two areas of annexed East Jerusalem, a local official said.

The Har Homa neighborhood in East Jerusalem. (Photo: AFP)

The Har Homa neighborhood in East Jerusalem. – Photo: AFP

“The municipal commission has given construction permits for 307 homes in Ramot and 73 in Har Homa,” Yosef Pepe Alalu, a Jerusalem city councelor with the opposition Meretz party, told AFP.

He said local officials were taking advantage of attention focused on Israeli elections due in March to expand settlements. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem Municipality allocates NIS 50m. ($12.56m.) in Har Homa construction

 

According to municipality officials, the funds are to be invested toward improving neighborhood’s roads, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds & street lights for the 25,000 Jewish residents.

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Ben-Gurion’s vision materializes as Israel plans 22 new Negev communities

 

The “Negev Progress Plan”, expected to increase Israel’s desert population by half a million people in the upcoming 20 years, will be a nod to David Ben-Gurion’s vision for prosperity & settlement in the Negev, as it will also help ease overcrowding in Israel’s center.

By Hezi Sternlicht

 

The cabinet is set to vote Sunday on a plan for increased development in the Negev Desert, including the establishment of 22 new communities. The new plan, nicknamed the “Negev Progress Plan,” references the Jewish Agency’s historic 11 Points in the Negev plan, which established 11 settlements in 1946.

Beersheba, in Israel’s Negev desert – Photo: Lior Mizrahi

The new plan will establish settlements from Sderot to Yeruham, near the original 11.

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Israel OK’s 78 new home construction for East Jerusalem

Jerusalem’s municipal planning committee authorized 28 new homes in Ramot and 50 homes in Har Homa.

Palestinians Authority accuse Jerusalem of trying to ’cause more tension, pushing towards further escalation.

By Reuters

 

Israel on Wednesday approved the construction of 78 new homes in two settlements on West Bank land adjacent to Jerusalem, likely to aggravate Palestinian anger at a time when violence has flared, including a deadly attack on a synagogue.

Construction in Har Homa neighborhood in East Jerusalem (Photo: AFP)

Construction in Har Homa neighborhood in East Jerusalem – Photo: AFP

Jerusalem’s municipal planning committee authorized 50 new housing units in the Jewish neighborhood Har Homa and 28 in Ramot, a municipal spokeswoman said. Continue Reading »

Jordan to request UN Security Council session over Israel’s housing plans in Jerusalem

The Jordanian request, on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, comes after Israel announced additional housing construction plans, as Arab violence in area escalates.

 

A spokesman for Jordan’s mission to the United Nations said on Monday his country will request an emergency UN Security Council meeting on behalf of the Palestinians, who have written to the council president about “dangerously escalating tensions” in East Jerusalem.

An orthodox Jew visits Temple Mount

An orthodox Jew visits the Dome of the Rock on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City, October 27, 2014.

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An arrogant US administration questions Israel’s commitment to peace

State Dept spokesperson expressed ‘deep concern’ over Israel’s construction in existing Israeli towns & cities, emphasizes US opposition to Israel’s unilateral steps on building homes in Jerusalem.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

 

 

WASHINGTON – The US State Department said Monday that recent Israeli actions are not reflective of an administration pursuing peace. During the daily press briefing, spokesperson Jen Psaki stressed that Israel must lower tensions and take the proper steps towards living in peace.

Ma'ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem (Photo: AP)

Ma’ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem – Photo: AP

“We view settlement activity as illegitimate and unequivocally oppose unilateral steps that prejudge the future of Jerusalem,” she said. Continue Reading »

Channel 2 News: Netanyahu ‘Unfreezes’ Judea and Samaria Construction

 

Channel 2 news Sunday evening reported Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister of the Economy Bennett agreed on plans for 12 new roads, 3 students’ villages & more for Judea and Samaria.

By Benny Moshe, Gil Ronen

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to end the de facto building freeze in Judea and Samaria and intends to approve thousands of new housing units and roads at a cost of millions of shekels, reported Channel 2 Sunday.

Preparing for more construction at Ramat Givat Ze'ev

Preparing for more construction at Ramat Givat Ze’ev – Photo: Nofei Israel

The move is seen as a bid to strengthen the alliance with the nationalist wing of the coalition, and follows a meeting between Netanyahu and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, who has threatened to destabilize the coalition if the freeze is not ended. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Prime Minister: We will continue building in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital

Israeli leader says construction benefits Jews and Arabs alike, “for Jerusalemites of all religions.”

By i24news

 

 

Israel’s construction in Jerusalem will continue, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, stressing that “we are building for Jews and Arabs alike, for Jerusalemites of all religions.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – PMO

Netanyahu spoke at a ceremony in the Israeli capital marking the unveiling of a new road named after the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, famous for his hawkish views.

Championing the legacy of the late premier, whose son Yair serves in Netanyahu’s government as the Minister of Agriculture, the leader said that Shamir “emphasized at every turn our obligation to safeguard Jerusalem’s unity.

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Netanyahu Answers American Criticism in Foreign Press

Israel’s PM says American criticism of Jews properly buying a home ’causes uproar’ only because it’s in Jerusalem. ‘It’s “baffling to me, you know, Arabs buy apartments in Jewish neighborhoods.’

By Ari Yashar

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been on a whirlwind American tour, speaking before the UN General Assembly, meeting US President Barack Obama, and starting Wednesday night speaking to several international media networks. That point has raised eyebrows given the fact he hasn’t given Israeli media an interview for many long years.

 

Two issues have caused ire in the White House since Netanyahu’s arrival, namely Israel’s announced construction plan for 2,610 homes in Jerusalem on Wednesday which the US harshly condemned, and dozens of Jewish families moving into eleven apartments in the Shiloach neighborhood (known as Silwan by local Arabs) in Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Tension Again as Netanyahu Tells Obama Get Your Facts Right on Jerusalem Construction

 

PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejects White House censure of Israel’s plan to construct 2,500 new residential units within its capital, in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Hamatos
• PM Netanyahu: These are not settlements, these are neighborhoods of Jerusalem, Israel’s capital!

Israel Hayom Staff

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected U.S. government criticism of an Israeli construction plan in an east Jerusalem neighborhood.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House, Wednesday – Photo: AP

“I think [the Obama administration] should be acquainted with the facts first,” Netanyahu said in a NBC News interview with Andrea Mitchell in New York, after returning there from Washington, where he had met with U.S.

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Israel’s plans to build 2,610 homes in East Jerusalem are underway

The PA believe the area should be part of its future state, but Netanyahu insists that Israel has a right to build in its capital.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

 

Plans are underway to build 2,610 new homes in a diplomatically sensitive area of east Jerusalem known as Givat Hamatos, which Palestinians believe should be part of their future state.

East Jerusalem

A general view of the Givat Hamatos neighborhood is seen in east Jerusalem – Photo: REUTERS

The municipality issued its final approval for the project in December 2012 but waited almost two years, until Friday, September 24 when it placed news of the approval in a local paper, according to the Israeli non-governmental group Peace Now. Continue Reading »

UN Warns Israel Over Relocating Bedouins From Squatting on E1 Area Land

UNRWA urges int’l community to oppose Israeli plans to relocate thousands of Bedouin from illegal, unlicensed makeshift structures to proper communities connected to water, sewers, electricity.

By Arutz Sheva

 

The UN’s “Palestinian refugee agency” UNRWA on Sunday urged the international community to oppose Israeli plans to relocate thousands of Palestinian Bedouin from the E1 and Maaleh Adumim areas east of Jerusalem, to the area around Jericho, next to the Dead Sea.

“If such a plan were implemented this would … give rise to concerns that it amounts to a ‘forcible transfer’ in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention” banning involuntary population relocation in occupied territory, UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl said. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem’s Mayor approves major construction plan for Arab neighborhood

Mayor Barkat overcomes years of opposition from right-wing, Haredi forces and gets approval for the construction of 2200 new homes.

 

The Jerusalem Local Building and Planning Committee on Wednesday approved a large construction plan for an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem over the objections of right-wing city councilors. The plan for the Arav al-Swahara neighborhood extends over 1,500 dunams (375 acres) and calls for building 2,200 homes.

East Jerusalem, a general view. September 23, 2014.

East Jerusalem, a general view. September 23, 2014. – Photo: Michal Fattal

Although Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Deputy Mayor Koby Kahlon, who chairs the building and planning committee, had been trying to get this plan passed for several years, it was repeatedly blocked by right-wing activists in conjunction with Haredi city councilmen.

Continue Reading »

White House condemns Israel’s plan to annex additional W. Bank land for housing

The 400 hectares (988 Acres) of West Bank land was Declared Israeli Land & was put under Israeli control when Arafat signed the Oslo Peace Accords

By i24news

 

 

The United States is calling on Israel to reverse its decision to appropriate 400 hectares of land in the West Bank, calling the move “counterproductive” to peace efforts.

The Gush Etzion bloc of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and surrounding Palestinian villages

“We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity,” a State Department official said. “This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes, planning step they approve and construction tender they issue is counterproductive to Israel’s stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians.” Continue Reading »