Our Construction Is Legal (Peace Now Cries Foul)

Back in March, Peace Now tried to muscle Shiloh around.

And now:

The Defense Ministry has approved two plans for the construction of 119 housing units in the West Bank settlement of Shilo, Ynet has learned. The building permits were revealed in the State's response to a petition filed with the High court of Justice by Peace Now eight months ago after the construction of 40 units had already begun on a number of Shilo plots...Defense Minister Ehud Barak's bureau said in response: "Anything approved in Shilo is just approval of the existing situation; any additional construction will need a new permit."

In its petition, Peace Now claimed the construction was illegal and was not included in the original plan for the area, as approved by the Central Bureau of Planning at the Civilian Administration of Judea and Samaria. In its response, submitted Wednesday, the State said that in light of the petition it has decided to retroactively authorize all permanent housing units included in the two construction plans.

If implemented, the construction plans would expand Shilo by 60%. There are currently 195 housing units in the settlement, in addition to caravans.

To clarify: this was not a matter of illegality.  It's one of internal zoning.  Slow bureaucracy.  Certain areas did not yet have their status altered.   Dany Dayan had an article about the kibbutzim going through decades of administrative paperwork to accomplish similar moves.

P.S.  195?  I'll start counting.  We have about 300 families.

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