Slippery Slope

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 Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister, Silvan Shalom (Likud), admitted that the selection of the three jurists who prepared the Levy Report – retired Supreme Court Justice Edmund Levy, former Foreign Ministry legal advisor Alan Baker, and retired Judge Tchia Shapira – was not coincidental.  Shalom was caught on tape admitting to a closed Likud event that the three were handpicked to produce desired findings, and that Justice Levy was selected because he was formerly a Likud member. (Times of Israel)

(Hebrew – Walla!)

The government is expected to invest more than 100 million NIS in the development of two underground tunnels at Adam junction near Ramallah.  Some of the plans for the development have already been approved by the Civil Administration’s planning committee, while the rest are still in the planning phase.  The Ministry of Transportation approved the project and instructed the Civil Administration to work toward issuing building permits for the project by January.

(Hebrew – Walla!)

The Civil Administration’s higher planning committee has approved the advancement of the E1 construction plan which would see 3,000 housing units being built in the area between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem. (Ynetnews)

(Hebrew – Ynet)

The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee will convene in two weeks to discuss the plan to build 1,700 housing units in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish neighborhood east of the Green Line.  The session was pushed forward, apparently as part of a government decision to “punish” the Palestinians for their successful bid to be recognized as a UN observer state. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

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!)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) has decided to approve the construction of approximately 3,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and West Bank settlements, including in area E1, which connects Jerusalem with the settlement Ma’aleh Adumim. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Germany decided to abstain from a UN General Assembly vote on the acceptance of Palestine as an observer state.  According to a senior German diplomat said that the reason for not opposing the move is that the “Israelis did not respond in any way to our request for positive gestures toward the Palestinians, specifically in relation to construction in settlements.” (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)

Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) established the Judea and Samaria Museum Council for the purpose of providing government monetary assistance to such institutions. Until now, Israeli museums in the West Bank received no government support because Israeli law does not apply in those territories. (Times of Israel)

(Hebrew – Walla)

Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved in September construction plans for the expansion of the Itamar settlement by 538 housing units, which would see the settlement grow five-fold. (Haaretz)

(Hebrew – Haaretz)