Peace Now: 5170 settlement units approved by Israel

Israel is planning to build 5,170 housing units in West Bank settlements but should discard the plans and 'truly give peace a chance,' a Peace Now report says. The organization, in a report released Monday, congratulated Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for agreeing to resume peace negotiations with the Palestinians and called on him to "walk the walk, and not just talk the talk." "The new government speaks about two states; meanwhile, on the ground they are doing exactly the opposite. ... We call the government not to approve any new plans and any new construction in settlements and truly give peace a chance," the organization said. Its report says the housing units are in different stages of the planning process. The report says 27 percent of the units are located west of the West Bank security fence, 29 percent east of the fence and 44 percent are to be between the route of the fence and "the planned route of the barrier." Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has already signed approval plans for 1,507 housing units in West Bank settlements, the organization said. It said it believes the number is actually much higher. The units are to be built in Ale Zahav, Beit El, Shilo, Nofei Prat, Almog, Sansana, Bracha, Kochav Yaakov, Modiin Elite, Alon Shvut, Kfar Adumim, Itamar, Bruchin, Karmel, Ma'aleh Adumim, Efrat, Rotem, Tekoa, Karnei Shomron, Alfei Menashe and Givat Ze'ev, the report says.