In what is considered a blow to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the government is set on Sunday to approve the establishment of a committee that will be responsible for approving building projects in Judea and Samaria. The committee will be in charge of setting policy for private construction, and will approve projects, throughout Judea and Samaria.

Until now, the Defense Minister was solely responsible for those approvals. The committee will be headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Among the members will be Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, Environmental Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, and ministers at large Binyamin Begin, Moshe Ya'alon, and Shaul Mofaz.