Israel’s security cabinet decided to put a temporary freeze on construction plans in the Palestinian West Bank city of Qalqilya late Wednesday night.
A proposal for the construction of 14,000 new housing units was put on hold for the next ten days until the committee reconvenes to make a final decision on the building plan and to discuss policies on Palestinian construction in the Area C territory.
The West Bank is under Israeli military control and is divided into Areas A, B and C. Areas A and B are under autonomous Palestinian control while Area C, 60 percent of the territory, sits under direct Israeli rule.
Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday endorsed the expansion plan that would allow the Palestinian town to build more houses for its overcrowded residents.
Qalqilya is the West Bank's most densely populated Palestinian city, and the plan would allow the town to double its size by building on land that has otherwise been off limits.
However, right-wing pundits have balked and pushed back on the proposal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously sought to allow.
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, praised the cabinet's decision, calling it “the first step in the right direction."
"I call on the prime minister to complete this move and remove this absurd plan—which endangers the Sharon and Samaria regions—from the agenda and dedicate more time to advancing construction plans for the citizens of the State of Israel in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and all over the country," Dagan continued.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, which are seen as a major obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians
In order to expand the town, Israel would transfer some of its West Bank territory to the Palestinian Authority.
Qalqilya lies directly next to the green line, or the internationally-recognized border between Israel proper and the West Bank territories.
The US government has pushed Netanyahu to allow the municipal expansion, arguing that the move could help restart peace talks, the Associated Press reported.
Politically, the fate of the West Bank has proved to be the thorniest question of all in Israel.
Approximately 55,000 people live in Qalqilya, packed into just one and a half square miles of land. Due to the separation barrier - separating Israel from much of the Palestinian West Bank - the city can only expand eastward, into privately-owned Palestinian land in Area C, according to the Associated Press.
"We desperately need this plan because of the density," Mayor Hashem al-Masri said to AP. "It will be a catastrophe if we can’t expand. It will feel like someone is trying to drive us out of our city."
Senior Israeli Defense Force (IDF) officers told Israel's Ynet News hours before Wednesday’s decision was made that all necessary permits were received and approved by the government a year ago.
Israeli FM Avigdor Liberman
"This is an argument between a responsible right and a right-wing and a Messianic and populist right, and the plan was fully backed by the security echelon, which optimally improves security in Judea and Samaria," Lieberman said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.
Qalqilya is trapped inside a security fence, and we are talking about the construction here, which is a private Palestinian area that no Jew comes to. We are talking about 6,100 housing units at a maximum, with 1,000 already built. And this plan is supposed to be implemented in phases, by 2035. We are talking about 300-400 units a year, that's the whole story. So I suggest that we really talk about the facts and be attentive to reality and not just slogans," added Lieberman, who hails from the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party.
Qalqilya has been relatively quiet in terms of violence, which Lieberman has touted its planned expansion as part of his "carrot and stick" policy toward the Palestinians, punishing regions which have been violent while granting privileges to more pacified towns.
"When I formulated the 'sticks and carrots' program, I sat with the entire military command, and the plan was backed up by the chief of staff, the head of Military Intelligence, the commander of the Judea and Samaria Division. I think that when we talk about security, let's listen first to those responsible for security, and not to those whose heads are always in the elections or in the primaries," Lieberman added.
