The number of communities in Judea and Samaria Israel plans to build more than tripled in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year, a leftist Israeli NGO said Tuesday.
Watchdog Peace Now said in a statement that between January and March, projects for 674 housing units passed at least one of the steps in the planning approval process, up from 194 in the first quarter of 2015.
Building projects in Judea and Samaria must pass through five administrative stages before winning final approval from Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, Peace Now spokeswoman Hagit Ofran told AFP.
The statement said that in all of 2015, planning for 1,665 homes moved forward, "a substantial decrease from 2014, during which 8,606 new housing units had been promoted.But since the start of 2016 the trend has been completely reversed."