The IDF is poised to launch the first phase of its move out of greater Tel Aviv. It’s a move that, when completed, would eventually see almost all bases and complexes move to the South, North, and around the Center of the country.
IDF soldiers on patrol – Photo courtesy: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
When complete, some 1,100 hectares (2,718 acres) will be vacated, enabling the construction of 100,000 housing units and 2.5 million sq.m. Continue Reading »
By AFP
Israeli authorities have given the go-ahead for the construction of 829 new settler homes in the West Bank, Peace Now said on Monday.
Settlement construction in Efrat – Photo: Ilan Arad Lowshot.com
“The construction of 829 homes has been approved by a committee of the Israeli military in charge of the West Bank,” said Lior Amihai, a Peace Now activist.
“This is yet another move that threatens to derail the peace process,” Amihai told AFP. Continue Reading »
By Alfi Shauly
A new city plan for Tel Aviv-Jaffa was approved on Sunday, after the regional committee decided to open the plan for public discussion. The plan, which included the construction of 35,000 residential units, sets the planning direction for the city until 2025.
Tel Aviv’s Central Bus Station – HaTachana HaMerkazit
The plan was created by the municipality’s engineering department and was approved by the local committee last March. Continue Reading »
The U.S. State Department said it is “deeply concerned” by Israel’s announcement over the tenders issued for the construction of 20,000 new settlement units in the West Bank and that it is demanding explanations from Israel.
Construction in Har Homa. – Photo: AP
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Washington was taken by surprise and had no prior knowledge of the plans. Continue Reading »
Israel is facing widespread criticism over its decision to approve settlement construction in Judea and Samaria following Tuesday night’s release of Palestinian prisoners.
The community of Maaleh Adumim in Judea and Samaria [Archive] – Photo: Reuters
On Wednesday, Israel Hayom revealed the list of 1,500 units approved for building in the Ramat Shlomo and Gilo neighborhoods of Jerusalem and in other areas beyond the Green Line.
Yaron Druckman
Apartment prices in Israel went up by 72% from 2007 to 2012, according to figures released Sunday by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The sharpest annual rise in housing prices was 21% – from March 2009 to March 2010.
It takes the equivalent of 135 monthly salaries to buy a home in Israel. – HAARETZ.com
According to the figures, from 2000 to 2006 apartment prices in Israel dropped 12%. Continue Reading »
By Maayana Miskin
Arutz Sheva’s weekly newspaper, B’Sheva, asked three Israeli public figures what they think of the government’s decision to grant another 5,000 work permits to Palestinian Authority residents. Israel already employs more than 10% of working PA residents.
Nerya Ofer of the Hebrew Labor Hotline was concerned by the decision. Living alongside non-Jews who are hostile to Judaism can lead to assimilation and loss of Jewish identity on both the individual and national level, he warned.
Eli Senyor
One man was killed and five people were injured Wednesday when a ceiling in a three-story building in south Tel Aviv‘s Herzl Street collapsed.
The incident occurred as infrastructure work was being held at the site. One man in his thirties who sustained critical injuries died shortly after the collapse. Five others, all construction workers working at the site, were caught under the rubble and pulled out by rescue forces. Continue Reading »
The Palestinian Authority threatened Wednesday to sue Israel through international bodies if it continues expanding Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, warning that they would put an end to talks unless building in Jewish areas came to a halt.
“These are not just dots on a map,” PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi said of more than 2,000 new Jewish homes which were approved for construction ahead of a resumption of peace negotiations late last month. Continue Reading »
US Secretary of State John Kerry revealed Tuesday that he and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas were fully aware that the Israeli government intended to continue building in parts of Judea and Samaria which “will not affect the peace map” when the decision was made to restart talks.
Kerry and Abbas – AFP photo
As such, despite the “outcry” by the Palestinian Authority, Abbas is still committed to talks with Israel over the next nine months, he said. Continue Reading »
The decision to allow construction projects in Jerusalem neighborhoods east and south of the 1949 armistice line is a good one, says Attorney Herzl Yehezkel, a city representative from the neighborhood of Homat Shmuel.
However, he told Arutz Sheva, Jerusalem’s fast-growing population needs far more housing than the few hundred units that will be built.
“I would be happy if they were building 8,000 units instead of 800,” he said. “The little bit that they are marketing is merely a drop in the ocean.” Continue Reading »
By Gil Ronen and Ari Soffer
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is demanding that Israel cancel its decision to market about 1,200 new housing units in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, even before the next round of “peace talks” scheduled for Wednesday.
Voice of Israel public radio quoted an anonymous senior PA official as saying the PA leadership has informed the United States of this decision and is awaiting a response. Continue Reading »
Finance Minister Yair Lapid lashed out Sunday at the decision to build more than one thousand new homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, calling it “a double mistake.”
Finance Minister Yair Lapid – Photo: REUTERS
Lapid’s comments came on the heels of similar condemnation by Meretz leader, Zahava Gal-On, who accused the government of trying to stymie the nascent peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Announcing the decision to market 1,200 housing units in east Jerusalem and in the larger settlement blocs at this time is a double mistake,” Lapid said in a statement.
The Civil Administration on Wednesday authorized construction of 878 housing units in Judea and Samaria. The units were approved for towns in the Binyamin region, the Jordan Valley, and Gush Etzion, Ha’aretz reported Thursday.
The Jewish community of Shilo, in Binyamin – IDF Photo
The approvals had been set to be issued several weeks ago, but were postponed due to the efforts to restart negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Continue Reading »
Peace Now, a far-left group that opposes any Jewish presence in the mountainous Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, says that nationalist complaints of a building freeze are unjustified.
The present government, it says, has carried out large scale construction in Judea and Samaria.
According to Peace Now, the government that was sworn in in March has thus far approved over 1,500 housing units in Judea and Samaria. Continue Reading »
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