Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir said he plans to increase the number of Jewish settlements in the administered territories after he takes office as Prime Minister next month.
He told Voice of Israel Radio Saturday that they would be established in accordance with the unity coalition government’s guidelines which allows for up to 27 new settlements “within the framework of our economic limitations.”
Only two new settlements were established during the past two years. But according to settlement activists, about 17,000 Israelis moved into the territories in that period, increasing the size of the 150 existing settlements. They said 68,000 Jews now live in the territories with an Arab population of 1.3 million.
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