The PIF (Palestine Investment Fund) is moving ahead with a hearty $2 billion project – to construct 30,000 new homes for Palestinian Authority residents in Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza.

Funds will come from private donors towards constructing the subsidized homes, providing residents will affordable housing.

This includes two new towns in the Ramallah area, a move that has Yesha Settlement Council leaders furious and quite concerned, stating the move will further compromise security for the Jewish residents of the area. This in addition to the government’s recent announced plans to remove 50 roadblocks and checkpoints, which will further leave Jewish travelers target to Arab terrorism.

One of the new towns will straddle Highway 60, the major road traveling through Shomron, the relatively new “Ramallah Bypass Road” which was constructed to provide Jewish travelers a safe route – compelled by the turning over of Ramallah and other areas to the PA, part of the so-called “peace process” emanating from the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Yesha officials also cite the blatant discriminatory practice of the national government and the “lack of backbone” in the face of US policies as stated by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who supports construction for Arabs but remains adamant in her opposition to any Jewish construction.

In the past, entire neighborhoods were built, by Israel, to provide new housing realities for Arab residents of Shomron but the homes remains empty after potential dwellers were threatened to abandon plans due to political considerations.

As is the case with the United Nations and other organizations, it is politically advantageous to permit so-called “refugee camps” in PA areas to continue, using them to cite the harsh living conditions under which many PA residents are compelled to live their lives, pointing the finger of blame at Israel.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)