Israel to build 10,000 homes over Green Line

Israeli Minister for Construction and Housing has said plans for 10,000 homes to be built over the pre-1967 lines were ready to be marketed in Jerusalem and West Bank. Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Uri Ariel urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to solve his housing crisis by approving the projects. "We have the ability to market 10,000 housing units in [east] Jerusalem and the settlement blocks in Judea and Samaria," Ariel told the Knesset Finance Committee during a meeting on the housing budget for 2013-2014. "This includes plans for homes in the settlements of Beit Aryeh, Ofarim and Elkana," Ariel added. The minister claimed that Jerusalem is one of the areas with an acute housing shortage, which had led to prices rocketing by 41 percent from 2008-2012, compared to a 27 percent hike in the rest of the country during the same period. He blamed the issue in part of the reluctance to build in east Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.