67,000 settlement units proposed to solve real estate crisis

The Israel Council of Settlements (Yesha Council) in the occupied West Bank has agreed with the Israeli housing ministry to prepare a large settlement plan to solve the crisis of high real estate prices in the Gush Dan area in the western part of the occupied West Bank, Quds Press reported yesterday.

According to the Israeli news website Ynet News the plan was proposed to the interior committee in the Knesset on Tuesday and includes the construction of some 67,000 new settlement units to solve the crisis of high prices.

Ynet News said that the Council of Settlements commissioned a panel of experts to assess the total amount of vacant land available for construction in the area between the settlement of Karnei Shomron in the north, through to the settlement of Ariel and up to the settlement of Modi’in in the west of Ramallah.

Read: Israel to approve 2,500 new settlement units in occupied West Bank

Based on the results the council found that the area could immediately accommodate the construction of some 67,000 housing units in which 340,000 settlers could live.

The international community and the Quartet consider settlements to be illegal. The UN Security Council said last December that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal.