Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has approved the construction of 147 new homes in the towns of Ofra in Samaria and Kfar Etzion in Judea, south of Jerusalem.
Mandelblit had previously opposed the planned housing project in Ofra, following a Supreme Court order freezing previously approved plans after Arabs claimed that part of the land to be used in the project lay outside of the territory allotted to Ofra.
The Ofra housing project, which is to be built on the northern edge of the town, had been green-lighted prior to court’s 2016 order.
Since then, however, the state has conducted extensive examinations of the disputed land and established that the area in question is in fact covered by the Ofra zoning plan and may be used for the new housing project.
The Attorney General has now penned an updated response on behalf of the state to the high court’s order freezing work on the project, supporting the original plan for 91 new homes.
In addition, the Attorney General also approved a request to plan a new housing project in the Kfar Etzion kibbutz in Gush Etzion. The project includes construction of 56 new homes.