IDF weighs settler home approvals near West Bank wall
Peace Now provided a blueprint of the plan, showing how the new neighborhood in the Ganei Modi’in settlement comes to the edge of the security barrier.
By TOVAH LAZAROFFA Jewish settler walks at the Jewish settlement outpost of Adei Ad B in the West Bank(photo credit: REUTERS/NIR ELIAS)
The Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria is slated to debate approvals for a 194-unit plan on Monday that would place settler homes very close to the West Bank security barrier, according to left-wing NGO Peace Now.The group provided a blueprint of the plan, showing how the new neighborhood in the Ganei Modi’in settlement comes to the edge of the security barrier.Last month, the IDF demolished 12 Palestinian structures, with 70 apartment units because they were built within 400 meters of the security barrier. The structures were located in Wadi Hummus, just outside Jerusalem, on plots that were on the Israeli side of the barrier, but were in Areas A and B of the West Bank and thus under control of the Palestinian Authority.Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Sunday that as part of its response to the Wadi Hummus demolitions, the PA plans to erase the West Bank divisions set out by the 1993 Oslo Accords, according to the Palestinian News Agency Wafa. He said that the PA plans to treat Area C of the West Bank, which is under Israeli military control, as if it were under PA control.During its two-day meeting, the Higher Planning Council intends to advance plans for 2,430 homes, of which 1,280 units will receive final approvals, according to Peace Now. Some 72% of the homes under debate are located outside the route of the security barrier.The council also plans to expand the boundaries of the Har Bracha settlement and to authorize four new outposts.The security cabinet last month approved a plan for 6,000 new settler units, but it is not clear whether the 2,430 new homes are part of that plan.
