For the first time in almost 60 years, Jerusalem’s borders are expanding. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s journey toward annexation continues with a housing plan designed to expand Israel’s capital.
In a series of well-publicized reforms last week, Smotrich radically shifted the Judean and Samarian real estate markets. It was the most prominent step in his three-year plan to annex Judea and Samaria de facto, if not de jure.
Since the last election, Smotrich has recognized 69 new settlements in Judea and Samaria. In the same time period, 150 farms have been built—some with approval and some without—and development has begun in the E1 corridor, an area that would cut East Jerusalem off from a theoretical Palestinian state.
Yesterday’s move, approving hundreds of housing units to create a contiguous strip from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev to the bordering settlement of Adam, is par for the annexation course.
