Israel 'to build more than 6,000 West Bank homes'

The Israeli government is planning to build more than 6,000 new homes in the West Bank this year and to legitimise 120 illegal outposts, a newspaper reported today.

The report in the Yediot Ahronot daily paper cited the Israel Land Administration’s 2005 working plan.

The expansion of West Bank settlements would coincide with the government’s plan to withdraw this summer from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank.

A spokeswoman for the land authority would not discuss the newspaper report.

The plan calls for a total of 6,391 new homes, the newspaper says. Maaleh Adumim outside Jerusalem, with 30,000 people the largest West Bank settlement, would be expanded by 2,100 housing units.

On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a revised route for the barrier it is building to wall off the West Bank, putting Maaleh Adumim on the Israeli side.