Peace Now said the housing was spread over 10 communities, some in areas the Palestinians want for a future state. About 1,000 units were in the initial stages of approval, whereas 700 received near-final approval. A military planning committee granted Thursday's approvals.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The housing approvals came days ahead of national elections in Israel on March 2, the third straight vote in less than a year after the previous two ended inconclusively.

The approvals also come weeks after the Trump administration unveiled its long-anticipated Mideast peace plan, which envisions Israel annexing parts of Judea and Samaria. It grants the Palestinians a state with limited autonomy over chunks of land but only if they meet a set of demands that would require them to drastically alter what has been their baseline for negotiations for decades.

The post Watchdog: Israel moves ahead with hundreds of settler homes appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Peace Now said nearly 800 housing units received the final approvals needed for construction to begin. It said initial approvals were given for an additional 1,150 homes. Settlement projects require several rounds of approvals.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

According to the group's report, the projects include retroactive legalization of two small outposts that were built without authorization.

The Palestinians seek the West Bank and east Jerusalem as parts of a future independent state. The Palestinians, and most of the international community, consider Israeli settlement activity to be illegal.

In a break from its Republican and Democratic predecessors, the Trump administration said in November that settlements are not illegal under international law.

According to official data compiled by Peace Now, settlement planning and construction has spiked since President Donald Trump took office.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced last month that she believes there is a basis for investigating Israel's settlement policies in the West Bank, and that they could constitute a war crime.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has asked the court to determine whether she has jurisdiction before opening a formal investigation. Israel has argued that the West Bank is disputed territory whose fate should be resolved in negotiations and Bensouda has no jurisdiction.

The post Israel promoting nearly 2,000 settlement homes, watchdog says appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The B'Tselem rights group said 238 Palestinians have lost their homes this year, including 127 minors. The second-highest number of demolitions on record was in 2016, when 92 homes were demolished.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The demolition of homes built without permits comes amid a major increase in Jewish settlement activity in Judea and Samaria and east Jerusalem since President Donald Trump took office.

Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017, breaking with a longstanding international consensus and angering the Palestinians, who cut off all contacts with the White House in response.

Shortly after uniting its capital in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel expanded the municipal boundaries to take in large areas of vacant land on which it later constructed Jewish neighborhoods. At the same time, it sharply limited the expansion of Palestinian neighborhoods, and as a result, illegal construction has flourished.

Last month, another Israeli rights group, Peace Now, obtained official figures on building permits in east Jerusalem going back to 1991 that provided evidence of alleged systematic discrimination against Palestinian residents. It claims that while Palestinians make up more than 60% of the population of east Jerusalem, they had received just 30% of the necessary permits.

As a result, Peace Now estimates that half of the 40,000 housing units built in Palestinian neighborhoods since 1967 lack permits, placing them at constant risk of demolition.

B'Tselem said commercial structures are also being demolished at the highest rate on record, with 76 dismantled so far this year, compared to 70 in all of 2018.

The B'Tselem figures only cover homes demolished because they were built illegally and do not include those destroyed over their owner's involvement in terrorist activity.

Israel maintains that demolishing the family homes of terrorists deters violence, while the Palestinians see it as a form of collective punishment.

The post Rights group decries 'record number' of Jerusalem home demolitions appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

A Defense Ministry planning committee issued the approvals after discussing the matter over the past several days, Peace Now said in a statement. The 2,304 housing units are at various stages of the approval process.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

"The approval of settlement plans is part of a disastrous government policy designed to prevent the possibility of peace and a two-state solution, and to annex part or all of the West Bank," said Peace Now, which closely monitors construction in Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged before the most recent general election in April to annex settlements in Judea and Samaria.

Last week, the diplomatic-security cabinet issued rare approval for 700 Palestinian housing units to be built in Area C – the part of Judea and Samaria that is fully under Israel's military and administrative control – while also approving 6,000 homes for Israelis.

Details of those plans were not publicly released, and some of the 6,000 homes earmarked for Israelis could be included in this week's committee approvals, according to Peace Now.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

The post Report: Gov't pushes plan to build 2,300 new settlement homes appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Both supporters and detractors of the settlement movement have previously referred to a "Trump effect," claiming the president's friendlier approach to the settlements is leading to additional settlement construction.

While the new Israeli figures obtained in a freedom of information request do not prove a direct connection, they indicate this process may already be underway, showing a 39% increase in 2017 spending on roads, schools and public buildings across Judea and Samaria

Hagit Ofran, a researcher with Peace Now, said it appears that Trump's election has emboldened Israel's pro-settler government.

"They are not shy anymore with what they are doing," she said. "They feel more free to do whatever they want."

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, offered even sharper criticism. "This proves that the current U.S. administration encouraged settlement activities," he said.

For decades, the international community and the U.S. have expressed concern over the settlements. But since taking office, Trump has taken a different approach. The White House has urged restraint but refrained from the blanket condemnations of its Republican and Democratic predecessors.

"The Trump administration is undoubtedly the most friendly American administration of all time," said Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha). "In contrast, the Obama years were extremely hard for Israel. Now we are making up for lost ground."

The government statistics, released by the Finance Ministry, show that in 2017, Trump's first year in office, Israeli spending in Judea and Samaria rose to 1.65 billion shekels, or $459.8 million, compared to 1.19 billion shekels ($332.4 million) in 2016.

The 2017 figures were the highest in the 15 years of data provided by the Finance Ministry, though spending also climbed in 2016, when then- President Barack Obama, a vocal critic of the settlements, was a lame duck, and his relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were cool.

In contrast, the lowest year of Israeli spending was 2009, when both Netanyahu and Obama took office, when it was 760.7 million shekels. The data included only the first half of 2018, so full-year comparisons were not available.

The figures include only government spending, so construction and purchases of private homes are not included. Israel also does not include items like police, education, health and military spending, saying such services are provided to all Israelis regardless of where they live.

In addition, spending in east Jerusalem is excluded.

But even with these caveats, the data provide a valuable snapshot of Israel's priorities. The figures include spending on public construction projects, such as roads, schools, social centers, synagogues, shopping malls and industrial parks. They also include special development grants for local governments and mortgage subsidies.

The areas with the strongest growth in 2017 were in school construction, which jumped 68%, and road construction, which rose 54%.

Revivi, who is also mayor of Efrat, said the spending was badly needed.

He said that school spending was legally required because of the fast-growing population. He also said that roads in Judea and Samaria have been in "dire condition" for years, and there is a drastic need for improvements.

Netivei Yisrael-the National Transport Infrastructure Company, which oversees road construction, said it carries out its projects at the instruction of the Transportation Ministry. In Judea and Samaria, these projects often allow settlers to bypass Palestinian villages to minimize friction.

In a statement, the company said it is "proud to lead a long line of projects throughout Israel, including Judea and Samaria, with the goal of improving safety for travelers and saving lives."

Education Minister Naftali Bennett declined to comment, while Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz did not respond to a query. Both men are strong supporters of the settlements. Netanyahu's office also did not answer a request for comment.

But Peace Now's Ofran said that road construction has deeper implications. She said new roads bring easier commutes and a better quality of life for settlers, drawing more people.

"We see it very immediately, after the opening of a road, a big boom in construction along the road," she said. "I think the investments we have these years in the roads are dramatic and will allow the expansion of settlements dramatically. That is very worrying."

In recent months, both Peace Now and settler advocates have released reports claiming that Trump's policies have laid the groundwork for a settlement boom in the near future.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem repeated the White House policy. "While the existence of settlements is not in itself an impediment to peace, further unrestrained settlement activity doesn't help peace," it said.

The post Trump election a boon to Israeli settlements, data shows appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.