‘We’re not waiting’: Defense Minister Bennett approves 1,900 housing units in Judea and Samaria

Bennett says Israel won’t allow a centimeter of land to be transferred to the Palestinians. 

By David Isaac, World Israel News 

“We are not waiting,” said Defense Minister Naftali Bennett in apparent reference to the Trump administration’s stated preference that Israel hold off on declaring sovereignty or making moves to expand its control over Judea and Samaria. Bennett announced on Friday the construction of over 1,900 housing units in Judea and Samaria.

“We will not hand over a centimeter of the Land of Israel to the Arabs,” he said, noting that Israel must build to prevent land transfer from happening.

The relevant committee of the civil administration in Judea and Samaria will meet Wednesday to approve the plan for the housing units. Israel Hayom reports the bulk of the housing will be centered in the Binyamin region.

Six hundred of the new units are slated for the settlement of Eli, where 930 families currently live, meaning a near doubling of the community’s population.

Another 534 units will be built in Shvut Rachel. This equals an increase of five times that settlement’s current size, Israel Hayom reports.

Other settlements which will benefit from new housing construction under the proposal are in Ganei Modiin, Alon Shvut and Nokdim.

“For years we explained to the settlements why everything is complicated and stuck in bureaucracy – that’s something that we’re putting a stop to. We are no longer in the discussion of evacuation and freezing [of settlements] but rather that of expansion and construction of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. We will continue to take it forward,” Bennett said.