An Israeli minister presented a plan to Israel’s parliament on Tuesday, advocating for 67,000 additional illegal settlement housing units to be built in the occupied West Bank.

The plan was proposed by Israeli Minister of Housing and Construction Yoav Galant, according to Israeli media outlet Ynet, as a strategy to tackle the real estate crisis in Tel Aviv, as many Israelis can no longer afford the city’s steep real estate prices.

As a solution, Galon proposed building 67,000 more apartment units in the occupied West Bank, in contravention of international law, and despite routine condemnation for Israel’s settlement activities by the international community.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to “protect the settlement enterprise” in a speech given during a ceremony on Tuesday held to commemorate the 50th year of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory.

“No one will be uprooted from their home, I’m doing everything to protect the settlement enterprise,” Netanyahu reportedly said, reassuring his extremist settler support base that the settlements would continue in “all parts of Judea and Samaria (West Bank)” and that Israel had continued to build “both inside and outside the settlements.”

The plan has been proposed amid rising concerns of Israel’s other plans to advance some 2,500 illegal settlement housing units across the West Bank, including building units in in Amichai, Israel’s first new official settlement in more than two decades.

Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in violation of international law.

(Maan, PC, Social Media)