Drastic Rise in Construction in the Settlements
January-June 2013 – Summary of the First Half of 2013:
70% rise in construction in the settlements; 86% without tenders
The following data is based on Peace Now’s survey of aerial photos and a count of all units that started/ended to be built in each settlement.
• Construction Starts: 70% rise in construction starts compared to the equivalent period last year. 1,708 units (in January-June 2013) 180 of them in illegal outposts, vs. 995 (in January-June 2012).
• Units Completed: The construction of 1,794 housing units ended.
• Units Under Construction: 2,840 housing units were under construction during this period.
The units that started to be built (“Construction Starts”):
• 61% of the construction starts (1,040 units) were in isolated settlements east of the border proposed by the Geneva Initiative; 44% of the construction starts (759 units) were east of the planned route of the separation fence, and only 32% (542 units) were west of the built fence.
• 180 public buildings (schools, synagogues, kindergartens and so on) started to be built in the settlements (in addition to the 1,708 housing units), as well as 74 industrial or agricultural buildings.
• At least 86% of the construction (1,469 units) was carried out without tenders, in settlements where tenders are not required before construction.
This means that the “tender moratorium” declared by the government until the prisoners release on July 2013 was not a general construction freeze, but only of a small part of the construction in the settlements.
The two tenders published on July (in addition to those in East Jerusalem) were actually for settlements east of the Geneva Initiative line in the areas where it is hardest to reach a compromise, in Efrat and Ariel.
For a summary of the developement in settlements since the Oslo accord - see here.
Examples of building sites:
Ariel – 51 housing units
Bracha – 88 housing units
Givat Ze’ev – 106 housing units (in the haredi neighborhood)
Modi’in Illit – 108 housing units
Nili – 100 housing units
Neriah – 42 housing units
Eli – 30 housing units
Alei Zahav – 35 housing units
Etz Efraim - 51 housing units
Tekoa – 39 housing units
Beit Arieh – 38 housing units
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