Israeli authorities to present plan to double settlers number in Jordan Valley within 4 years
Israel’s so-called Construction and Housing Ministry is drafting a resolution seeking to double the number of Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley.
The resolution will be presented to the occupation government only after the national budget is approved by the Israeli Knesset, but before the end of the 2021 work year, senior government officials told Israel Hayom.
The Prime Minister’s Office, the Finance Ministry and the Interior Ministry also worked on the joint resolution.
The goal of the resolution is to double the number of Israeli settlers to around 3,000 within four years as currently, some 1,500 settlers live there.
The occupation government will allocate NIS 90 million ($28 million) to the plan.
“There are more than enough communities in the area, but what’s needed is to expand those that exist, not only to prevent their aging and dying but also because ultimately this offers more solutions to the high apartment prices,” officials familiar with the details told Israel Hayom.
The Jordan Valley is home to approximately 60,000 Palestinians, but nearly 90 percent of the land is part of the so-called Area C, the three-fifths of the West Bank that is under complete Israeli control.
It includes closed military areas and about 50 Israeli settlement outposts.
