Peace Now Report Shows More Than 4,000 Units Under Construction in West Bank Settlements
Settlement Report | Vol. 7 No. 1 | January-February 1997- Clinton Administration Sharpens Focus on Settlements
- Settlers Demand More Tangible Support From Netanyahu
- To Our Readers
- Letter
- Settlement Timeline
- Short Takes
- U.S. Government Policy on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories -- 1967-1996
- Peace Now Report Shows More Than 4,000 Units Under Construction in West Bank Settlements
- Back Panel Quote
A November 1996 "Report on Building in Settlements" by the Israeli organization Peace Now disclosed that there are 4,094 dwelling units under various stages of construction in 31 West Bank settlements. Half the construction now under way is located at the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim near Jerusalem. Virtually all of the construction reported was initiated by the previous Labor government led by Shimon Peres. The report's authors have acknowledged that more than 50 West Bank settlements and all Gaza Strip and Golan Heights settlements were not included in the survey. Nevertheless, the report provides the most accurate estimates to date of the settlement construction program inherited by the Netanyahu government. By way of comparison, when Yitzhak Rabin assumed power in mid-1992, he approved the completion of 9,850 units then under construction in the West Bank--1,200 in the Gaza Strip and 1,200 in the Golan Heights. That is, Netanyahu inherited less than one-third the number of units approved by Rabin.
