Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans to approve the construction of hundreds of housing units in Judea and Samaria, a source in the Prime Minister's Office said Friday. Following the approval of the new projects, Netanyahu will consider a complete building freeze on Jewish communities in the area.
Israel has already informed the United States of the intention to allow a final round of building before the freeze, the source reported.
The report follows rumors that Israel and the U.S. are close to reaching an agreement regarding an array of steps to be taken vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority. The goal is to allow for Israel-PA negotiations to resume – something that PA leaders say will only happen if Jews are not allowed to build anywhere east of the 1949 armistice line.
In addition to allowing for hundreds of new apartments, Netanyahu's government will continue to allow the construction of roughly 2,500 housing units in Judea and Samaria's Jewish cities. Construction of the units was approved before the current government took office.
If Netanyahu agrees in the end to a complete building freeze in Israeli-controlled regions of Judea and Samaria, he will be the first prime minister in Israel's history to do so. The PA, backed by the U.S. and the European Union, has demanded that a building freeze include cities such as Maaleh Adumim, Ariel, and Beitar Illit, which most Israelis believe should remain Israeli even if a PA state is created in most of Judea and Samaria.
Under the proposed construction freeze plan, Israel would forbid Jews to build in Judea and Samaria in exchange for gestures from hostile Arab countries. If Arab countries begin normalizing their ties with Israel following a building freeze, the freeze would continue indefinitely.
If the countries refuse to normalize ties even with a building freeze, Israel would allow construction in those areas to resume after several months.
The proposal faces strong opposition from within Netanyahu's Likud party. “Likud MKs are not a rubber stamp for the prime minister,” MK Danny Danon told Kol Yisrael government radio on Friday. “We will back the prime minister only so long as he remains true to the Likud's principles.”
Netanyahu has not yet made a public announcement regarding the possibility of a building freeze. He continues to meet frequently with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell to discuss the issue.