In first in years, Israel moves to approve 800 housing units for Palestinians in West Bank’s Area C

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Israel has given initial approval to advance construction of 863 housing units in Palestinian villages in Area C of the West Bank for the first time in years, in a step seen as part of a larger move by the Israeli government, trying to strengthen the standing of the Palestinian Authority.

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Area C is the portion of the West Bank that is under full Israeli control rather than at least the partial control of the Palestinian Authority.

The approval of the new housing plans by Defense Minister Benny Gantz joins a recent decision by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to increase the number of permits granted to Palestinian laborers to work in Israel and in West Bank settlements.

The plans for new housing in five West Bank villages will be considered next week by the top planning council at Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank prior to their being filed for public comment. The villages involved are Al-Ma’asara (150 units), Bir al-Basha (270), Al-Masqufa (233), Khirbet ‘Aaba (160) and Khirbet Zakariya (50).

Area C represents 60 percent of the territory of the West Bank, but does not include the major Palestinian cities there. According to data reported by Haaretz that was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, between 2016 and 2018 the Israeli Civil Administration approved only 21 building permit requests by Palestinians for construction in Area C. During that same period, 2,147 demolition orders were issued against Palestinian property.

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This is the first large-scale plan promoted by Israel for Palestinian construction in Area C. In 2017 a plan for 5,000 housing units around the city of Qalqilya, in the northern West Bank, was filed for public comments, but hasn’t been promoted further since then.

In 2019 the cabinet gave its approval for 700 housing units for Palestinians, but according to Peace Now, eventually only six of them were given final approval.

Settlement homes

The planning council is also expected to consider next week plans for 1,351 housing units in Israeli settlements in the West Bank before filing them for public comment, and approve 908 more units, alongside the plans for the Palestinian villages.

The settlement housing units expected to get final approval include 58 in Beit El, 285 in Har Bracha and 105 in Alon Shvut.

Next week’s meeting will be the planning council’s first in seven months, and the first since Prime Minister Naftali Bennett assumed office. The Yesha Council of settlements has been lobbying intensively over the past few months to convene the council.

Last month, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr visited Israel and the West Bank to discuss the latter’s financial crisis. Officials who met with him said he voiced the Biden administration’s concern about the situation and urged Israel to take steps to increase the Palestinian Authority’s cash flow.

In a statement released after the visit, the State Department said Washington sought “to advance equal measures of freedom, security, and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” and that Amr’s visit “successfully advanced the goal of deepening understanding with Israelis and Palestinians in this regard.” It added that the topics discussed included economic development, energy and water.