Israel quadruples building permits in West Bank: report

Oct 10, 2007, 22:03 GMT

Jerusalem - Israel's Lands Authority issued permits for the construction of 6,100 new apartments in the West Bank in the first three quarters of 2007, some four times as many as during the same period in previous years, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.

Most of the apartments are being built in the Jewish settlement of Modi'in Ilit, near Jerusalem - one of the main settlement blocs Israel wants to keep as part of a future peace deal with the Palestinians.

With more than 30,000 residents, Modi'in Ilit is one of the two biggest settlements in the West Bank.

An Israeli construction company, Heftsiba, went bankrupt earlier this year and its chief executive officer was arrested on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement when it transpired that it planned to build part of a neighbourhood of 3,000 apartments in Modi'in Ilit without valid permits.

Hundreds of Israelis lost their mortgage money in the affair without achieving full ownership of their new homes, and the Israeli government has reportedly pledged to retroactively grant permits to the homes as a solution to the crisis. Palestinians and the Israeli B'Tselem human rights group, however, protest the neighbourhood was built on land belonging to the Palestinian village of Bil'in.