Defense Minister Ehud Barak may offer a three-month temporary building freeze in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) during an upcoming trip to the United States. Barak will leave for the U.S. on Monday morning.
The building freeze proposal was reported Sunday by Army Radio. The proposal would include even a freeze on construction for what has been termed "natural growth" - something that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has long claimed was necessary.
Yediot Acharonot correspondent Shimon Schiffer reports, in the name of government sources, that the proposed freeze would not include the approximately 2,000 construction projects currently underway.
The Palestinian Authority has demanded that no new homes be built for the Jewish population of Judea and Samaria. U.S. President Barack Obama has given the PA its support, pushing a complete building freeze that would not allow expansion even for the naturally expanding population.
MKs Encourage Residents
In response to Barak’s apparent intentions, MKs of the National Union party are visiting new neighborhoods, considered “unauthorized” according to some government offices – in Gush Etzion and Judea. The MKs call upon the residents to prepare for a new construction wave and a large increase in residents – a common consequence of threats to the Yesha settlement enterprise.
Netanyahu: Normal Life Must Continue
Prime Minister Netanyahu has so far refused to call for a complete building freeze, and says Israel will continue to allow for growth in government-approved Jewish towns, though "unauthorized neighborhoods will be evacuated." Israel and the PA can come to an agreement regarding the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria during final status talks, Netanyahu said last week. Until then, “we must continue to live normally."
G-8 Demands Settlement Freeze
The G-8 - Group of Eight richest nations - has also called on Israel to stop building in the Biblical areas of Judea and Samaria. It issued a statement on Friday calling for a "freeze in settlement activity (as well as their 'natural growth')." The statement equated this demand with a call for an "unequivocal end to violence and terrorism."
Cabinet Minister Binyamin Begin (Likud) visited the Jewish town of Beit El, in southern Samaria, last week, and committed to work on behalf of the community. “Like Netanyahu announced at Bar Ilan [University], the government will allow natural development in Judea and Samaria,” Begin assured residents. He said he pictures Beit El in 20 years “like it is today, but flourishing even more.”
More than 270,000 Jews lived in Judea and Samaria as of 2007. Jewish population growth in the area is estimated at 5-6 percent per year, a much higher growth rate than that in the rest of the country.
According to Israeli demographers, an estimated 1.35 Palestinian Authority Arabs lived in Judea and Samaria as of 2004.
