During his reelection campaign, the head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Shlomo Neeman revealed that the council he headed had planned 14,864 new housing units throughout Gush Etzion in the past year and a half. All this after only a few hundred housing units were planned a year and a half ago.

These housing units include extensions to existing communities, such as 1,100 residential units in Rosh Tzurim and another 600 units in Migdal Oz. The plan also includes the construction of new settlement areas, including the settlement of Givot on the slopes of the Gush, in which 1,107 units will be built, and the Chatmar Etzion compound in the center of Gush Etzion, where 1,200 new housing units will be built to form an urban continuum from Bat Ayin in the west to Migdal Ohz in the east.

The total amount invested in planning over the past year and a half is NIS 18.9 million. In addition, there is accelerated land acquisition in the Gush Etzion Regional Council, in order to continue to increase the land reserves that will be built in the future.

Neeman said that “increasing the Gush Etzion bloc threefold will completely change the quality of life in Gush Katif, as adding more construction and families is the strongest growth engine for all areas of life in the Gush, including more education, more culture, more businesses, and more settlement. A dramatic increase in housing units will also allow our children to stay in Gush Etzion and buy apartments at reasonable prices, together we will increase the bloc and maintain the kehilla.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)