The head of the World Zionist Organization settlement department, Matityahu Drobless, has suggested that some 27,000 Jewish families settle in the West Bank within the next five years, Israel Television reported yesterday. A master plan for settlement in Judaea and Samaria was presented by Drobless to Premier Menachem Begin, chairman of the Ministerial Settlement Committee Ariel Sharon and members of the WZO Executive.
The plan has not yet been approved by the various bodies which deal with settlements, but the report said Drobless estimated the expense involved at IL 54 billion. Under the plan, IL 16 billion should be invested next year to settle 8000 families in 46 new settlements in the West Bank.
The settlements strip would run from the Jen-in area in northern Samaria, through the heart of Samaria, all the way south to the Hebron mountains. The plan calls for building new settlements alongside the existing ones, in order to “thicken” the Jewish presence in the area. There are now only 1300 Jewish families in the West Bank.
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