On Friday morning, January 30, the Israel Lands Authority published tenders for 450 new homes in occupied West Bank settlements. The new tenders are for projects in the following settlements: Elkana (156), Geva Binyamin (Adam, 114), Kiryat Arba (102), and Alfei Menashe (78). In addition, a tender was published for the construction of a hotel in Ma’aleh Adumim as well as for business buildings there and in Emmanuel.
Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo has been submitted for public review with a municipal planning committee. Wassel Abu Yusef, a senior Palestinian official said the measure constituted a war crime. “What the Israelis have announced is part of a wider war… against the Palestinian people” Abu Yusef told AFP. “This is a war crime which should push the settlements issue to the International Criminal Court.”