Israel has given final approval to the building of 40 new homes at a settlement in the occupied West Bank to replace temporary structures there, the settlement's council head said on Monday. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed over a year ago in a dispute over Israeli settlement building. "Building tenders were issued this week after Defence Minister Ehud Barak had already signed off on the construction plans," Efrat council head Oded Revivi told Reuters.
A Defence Ministry statement confirmed that an Israel Lands Administration tender had been published for building the 40 homes following Barak's approval of the plans "some months ago".