Central Command Head Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrachi signed orders Thursday that amend the construction freeze orders issued immediately after the cabinet decision on the matter. The amendments give back to the local government heads in Judea and Samaria some of the authority that the original orders took away from them.
The amended order lets the local government chiefs plan and discuss requests for construction permits. In addition, they will be allowed to grant construction permits for infrastructure and to permit certain construction additions to existing homes.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the new orders following agreements reached in the government committee on the construction freeze. The committee's members are Barak, Minister Benny Begin and Government Secretary Tzvi Hauser.
Samaria Council Head Gershon Mesika said that he refused to see the amended orders as a meaningful move. The changes, he said, are “an optical illusion.”
"These are cosmetic changes that do not solve the problems and the numerous injustices that the freeze orders created, and they do not correct the message of loss of direction and values,” Mesika said. “The continued racist freeze for Jews only is a continuation of the implementation of a radical leftist policy.”