Supreme Planning Council in the Civil Administration approved today to advance the construction of more than 5,600 housing units in the settlements

The Supreme Planning Council in the Civil Administration approved today to advance the construction of more than 5,600 housing units in the settlements, more than a thousand of them in the Ali settlement, which was announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Bezalel Smotrich following the attack last week. The US State Department said it was "deeply disturbed by the decision".
The council approved plans that will qualify the Jubilee, Mountain View, and Water Streams outposts, which are destined to become neighborhoods in Ali's territory. Originally, the discussion was supposed to deal with the promotion of 499 housing units in the settlement, including a program that trains "watercourses", but after the attack, another 1,057 additional units were added to the discussion by order of Netanyahu and Smotrich. This is a significant addition to the settlement, which according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has 4,762 residents.
In addition to the units in Baali, the Supreme Planning Council also approved to advance to the first planning stage the construction of 4,061 housing units in the West Bank, including 390 units in Beitar Elit, 340 in Ma'ale Adumim, 330 in Halamish, 287 in Adura, 264 in Etz Ephraim, 196 in Telam, 184 in Magdalim, 152 in Midas, 150 in the Hasmoneans, 120 in Kiryat Arba, 104 in the Horns of Samaria, 98 in Ariel, as well as in Mova Dotan. In addition, construction plans in the settlements of Givat Ze'ev (787 housing units), Rabba (381), Elkana (343), Carmel and Harmesh came up for final approval at the hearing today.
Last week the government approved a decision that will shorten the process of obtaining construction permits in the settlements. The mechanism that existed until now allowed the political echelon to stop construction in the settlements at various stages, and over the years the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister intervened more than once to delay construction in accordance with political needs and contacts with the international community. The government's decision will remove some of these brakes, speed up construction, and hand over the authority to approve the planning - which until now rested with the Minister of Defense - to Smotrich, who serves as an additional minister in the Ministry of Defense.