This project is ‘exceptionally lethal for the possibilities of peace and the two-state solution, as it crosses the West Bank and prevents the metropolitan development of the cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem, as well as East Jerusalem’, the NGO stressed in a communique posted on its website.
It stated that there have been plans to develop such an idea since the 1990s, but due to the international opposition, it was not approved until 2012, when then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave it the go-ahead.
Then it was frozen, but Netanyahu promoted it again shortly before the February 2020 elections, he stressed.
Peace Now criticized the positions by new head of Government Naftali Bennett, also known for his positions against the dialogue with the Palestinians and the establishment of a state for that people, as the international community demands.
According to official Palestinian data, Israel has built more than 31,000 homes in the 144 settlements located in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2004, and 139 other outposts for future settlements.
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