Slippery Slope

An investigation carried out by the Civil Administration indicates that at least 166 housing units in the settlement of Ali were built on private Palestinian land. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

The Ministry of Defense has approved the construction of 523 housing units in the settlement settlement of Gva’ot, located in the West Bank’s Gush Etzion region. (Ynetnews)

(Hebrew – Walla!)

Minister of Construction and Housing, Ariel Atias (Shas), has declared that his office will begin marketing hundreds of housing units in the Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev in the coming week. (Ynetnews)

(Hebrew – Walla!)

The Jerusalem District Court has ruled there will be no change in the decision to set free without limitation four Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity activists, detained last week during a demonstration against constructing new housing units for Jews in east Jerusalem. The judge, Moshe Drori, rejected the police appeal on the ruling of the Magistrate’s Court in the matter, which stated there was no reason for arresting the activists. Judge Drori wrote in his decision: “it is a shame that the police delegate, representing the state, is not following the path that the court ruled”. The judge also added: “I didn’t see the need for the District court to explain once again to the police that it has to follow High court rulings that were given 30 years ago”.

(Hebrew)

The Jerusalem Municipality Planning and Construction Committee approved two construction plans in East Jerusalem, beyond the Green Line. 92 housing units are planned for the Talpiot Mizrach neighborhood and 32 more units are planned for the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood. According city council chair of the Likud, Adv. Elisha Peleg, there is no importance to the fact that the 124 housing units will be constructed beyond the Green Line, “because it is obvious that the only available reserves of land in Jerusalem are beyond the historical Green Line.”

(Hebrew)

The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee has filed a plan for a new neighborhood to be constructed in the northeast part of the municipal area, known as “Pisgat Zeev Tzafon.” According to the plans filed, 625 new residential units will be built in the planned neighborhood. (Hebrew)

According to a report by Shalom Achshav, the settlers have almost closed the building gap created by the building freeze. According to data published by the organization, work has begun on 1,664 new housing units in the settlements, and ground was laid for some 1,126 units. The Israeli Central Board of Statistics data says that in 2008, work has begun on 1,703 housing units. (Hebrew)

The local committee for planning and building in the municipality of Jerusalem will debate on Monday a request to approve a decision to change the purpose of land intended for building a hotel into about 130 housing units in Gilo neighborhood in the city. (Hebrew)

The planning of a new neighbourhood, containing 800 housing units in western Ariel has begun (Hebrew) a month ago, and all that is required for the beginning of building is the approval of the city’s planning and building committee, which supports the venture.

The Prime Minister’s Bureau replied (Hebrew) to White House criticism of the approval of the building of more housing units in eastern Jerusalem. The statement said that “Jerusalem is not a settlement – Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel”. The statement further said that “Israel has never accepted any restrictions on building in Jerusalem, where some 800 thousand people reside, not even during the ten months of suspension of building in Judea and Samaria”.