Israel's Ministry of Housing has no inherent right to decide how many homes are to be built, even if these houses are to be built in "disputed territories." The sole entity allowed to issue permits to communities in Judea and Samaria should be the local municipal councils, which have the professional capabilities to ensure the right
The sole entity allowed to issue permits to communities in Judea and Samaria should be the local municipal councils.
number of homes are built and that all new houses meet the same public standards that exist inside the Green Line.

A petition to the Supreme Court should be filed ordering the Ministry of Housing to prove that there is a correlation between the number of housing permits issued for new homes in Judea and Samaria and the ongoing political dialogue with the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael. If no such correlation exists, then the Supreme Court is required to order the Ministry of Housing to allow the residents of Judea and Samaria to obtain as many building permits as required to satisfy the need for housing in these regions.

The Ministry of Housing's order not to issue building permits to the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria violates these citizens' basic human rights.

For more than four decades the Israeli government has provided infrastructure and a security umbrella enabling the communities in Judea and Samaria to exist and flourish. Residents pay income tax to the government and the Israeli government declared the Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria to be under the rule and sovereignty of the central government of Israel. This leaves the central government of Israel responsible for ensuring that the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria have enough homes to live in.

The Israeli government can not, on the one hand, tell its citizens, "It's okay, we know the status of the area you will live in is in dispute, however we allow you to live there, providing you with security and infrastructure, and allow you to work and travel freely throughout the rest of Israel," and then turn around and say, "But in the matter of 'new housing permits,' we have complete control over these and you have no right to question our policy of not issuing any new building permits for the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria."

The central government of Israel can't claim sovereignty over these Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, and yet deny them the right to build enough homes required to house their growing population. To be given a permit to build a home is a basic human right. Having a roof over the heads of families who wants to join their community is a basic human right. Nothing is more of a basic, fundamental human right than to live in a sheltered structure, rather than the alternative.

The worse that can happen when you build a house without a building permit is a demolition order. In the 40 years the central Israeli government has been encouraging and enabling Jewish citizens of Israel to settle in Judea and Samaria, it has demolished very few "illegal structures". There are more than 200 outposts. A fraction actually get taken down.
The army has no problem with a continued Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.

It is clear that the army and all the economic and commercial interests that feed off of contracts from the army do not want to just leave these areas. These areas represent fiefdoms to them. Why would they agree to give them up? For what? To go back to sitting in offices rather than out in the field, controlling the populations?

Without the security umbrella the IDF- and therefore, the Israeli government - offers the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, there would be no Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. If the government in Jerusalem really wanted to expel the Jews, they would simple withdraw the protection of the Israeli army. They don't. What does that tell us?

It tells us the army has no problem with a continued Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. For them, the prize just gets bigger as the number grows.

The only thing that stops massive settlement of Judea and Samaria, therefore, is the boldness of the officials in the local councils to issue permits to build without the Ministry of Housing's permission.