"The ministry of construction and housing is planning to construct at least 73,000 housing units in the West Bank," the anti-settlement group Peace Now disclosed Monday in a report based on the analysis of Israeli government data.
The group added, "At least 15,000 housing units have already been approved and plans for an additional 58,000 housing units are yet to be approved. Out of the units already approved, nearly 9,000 have been built."
Once the plans are carried out, the number of settlers in the territories will be doubled.
The completion of these projects will make the plan of creating a Palestinian state next to Israel totally 'unrealistic'.
There are currently more than 280,000 Israeli settlers living in some 121 settlements in the West Bank. Another estimated 200,000 live in east al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Under an internationally drafted 'roadmap for peace', Israel is committed to dismantle all settlements built since March 2001. Nevertheless, construction in Israeli settlements jumped 60 percent in 2008.
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