Israel approves nearly 1800 new settler homes on eve of election

Israel approved nearly 1800 new settler homes in the disputed West Bank, four days ahead of a general election.

Israeli security forces near the Ibrahimi mosque, also known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs, in the divided West Bank town of Hebron this week. Picture: AFP

Israel has approved nearly 1800 new settler homes in the disputed West Bank, Defence Minister Naftali Bennett announced, four days ahead of a general election.

“We don’t wait, we act. We will not give an inch of the land of Israel to the Arabs, but for that, we must build there,” Mr Bennett said on Thursday.

Anti-settlement NGO Peace Now said a total of 1739 homes were earmarked, 92 per cent of which were deep inside the West Bank. It said 1036 were approved through a first major stage, while 703 went through a final hurdle.

Separately, a new industrial park was approved for construction near Qalqilya in the West Bank, Peace Now said.

The announcement was praised by the Yesha council, which represents settlers throughout the West Bank. “This decision strengthens the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria and we are delighted,” the council’s head, David Elhayani, said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.

It was the second major settlement statement in recent days, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday announced 3500 new homes in the E1 corridor, a highly sensitive part of the West Bank.

The international community has warned that Jewish settlement construction in the E1 corridor, which passes from Jerusalem to Jericho, would slice the West Bank in two and compromise the contiguity of any future Palestinian state.

Israel is due to hold a general election on Monday in which Mr Bennett’s far-right Yemina ­coalition and Mr Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud vie for the support of Israel’s more than 600,000 settlers.

“In the battle over the settler right-wing vote, Bennett and Netanyahu are dragging Israel to invest in thousands of harmful and unnecessary settlement units,” Peace Now said.

The election will be Israel’s third in a year after deadlocked polls in April and September 2019 saw neither Mr Netanyahu nor his rival Benny Gantz able to form a governing coalition. Opinion polls show the two parties near neck-and-neck yet again.

Mr Netanyahu, 70, will stand trial next month after being indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

AFP