The data of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics confirms Peace Now's reports describing a dramatic rise in construction in settlements on the eve of the Settlements Freeze (the Moratorium).  This increase in construction just before the beginning of the Moratorium in turn enabled the continuation of construction during the Moratorium period.  This is because the official Freeze, which was declared at the end of November 2009, only forbids new construction but allows the continuation of projects that were started before the beginning of the Freeze. Peace Now: "If the moratorium is not extended beyond its initial period of 10 months, there will have been no practical effect of the Moratorium, and the only reasonable conclusion will be that the Freeze itself was merely another public relations trick of the Government of Israel".
 
The Last quarter of 2009 – Data on construction at the eve of the Freeze:
The settlement freeze took effect on November 26, 2009. The data below is from Sep-Dec 2009, i.e. on the eve of the moratorium, and is based on CBS's and Peace Now's data:
• The last quarter of 2009 saw a 33% rise in construction starts and a 300% leap in government-initiated construction projects in the settlements.  At the same time, the number of construction starts elsewhere in Israel dropped by 7%.
• For the first time in many years, more new construction was started to the east of the Separation Fence than on its western side.
• Some 390 building foundations were laid on sites at which construction still has not yet started; some 170 of those, at least, are fake foundations.
• Hundreds of housing units were built as trailers and illegal structures and do not feature on the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) data.
• Construction works in the outposts continued and even intensified.

Quarterly Data
According to updated CBS data, there was a 33% rise in construction starts in the last quarter of 2009, as compared with the third quarter (up from 447 new starts in July-September to 593 in October-December).  At the same time, the number of construction starts in other locations in Israel actually dropped 7% (from 8,297 housing units in the third quarter to 7,706 in the fourth).
When compared with the same period last year, it appears that while the number of construction starts all over Israel rose by only 3% between the end of 2008 and the end of 2009, the number of construction starts in the settlements rose 31%.
 
A 300% leap in government-initiated construction projects
During the first half of the Netanyahu-Barak government term, as we previously reported, there was a decline in government-initiated construction starts in the settlements. However, data from the last quarter of 2009 shows that the trend has reversed:  from a low of only 10 construction starts in the third quarter of 2009, the number of government-initiated construction projects rose to 341 new apartments at the fourth quarter of 2009 -- making it a new record in the number of government-sponsored public construction starts since the early 2007.  This datum constitutes a reversal of an 18-month-long trend of decline in such projects. 
The data is particularly interesting in view of the fact that, according to the government decision on a construction freeze, no construction projects should have been started in December; thus, the steep rise in construction projects initiations was actually concentrated in just the two months immediately preceding the Freeze (September and November of 2009).
Before the Freeze, the Netanyahu-Barak government approved the construction of hundreds of new housing units in the settlements.  Thus, when the Freeze went into effect, hundreds of new housing units were already "under construction," allowing them to be continued well into the Freeze period.   

 
* CBS data for construction starts by quarterlies, without East Jerusalem

Graph of CBS Data - construction projects initiations by quarterlies

The Second Half of 2009
According to the CBS, the construction of 1,040 new housing units (apartments) started in the settlements in the second half of 2009 (in addition to 663 apartments started in the first half of 2009).  The CBS data refer only to the number of housing units that were built (referring, at times, to several units in the same building), and do not include outpost or illegal construction data.  According to Peace Now's count, however, the number of new buildings initiated in the second half of 2009 was 1,250, of which 1,000 are permanent structures and some 250 are trailers; in addition, plots were prepared for the construction of another 140 buildings.  Some of those buildings consist of a single housing unit (villas or trailers), while others are apartment buildings.  Thus, the number of housing units actually started is much higher than the 1,250 buildings we have discovered and certainly significantly higher than the number reported by the CBS.
 
CBS Data Lower than Real Figures
This gap between the CBS data and the actual figures is due to the fact that the former do not fully reflect all construction starts in the settlements.  According to the CBS definitions, "construction data do not include the placement of trailers or caravans… outposts in Judea and Samaria, housing projects of which the CBS was not notified by way of construction permits, or illegal residential buildings that were not logged in the Interior Ministry's report."
Among other things, the CBS data is based on information concerning construction permits that are issued as obtained from the local municipalities, but the reports do not fully cover all the settlement facts:  "Construction data re Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria with a population of fewer than 10,000 are presented as a summary due to the low quality of data obtained from some of the settlements."
Specifically, due to the large quantity of construction projects initiated without permits, the placement of mobile homes, and partial reports of some of the settlements -- the CBS data are only partial.
 
For the first time, the number of buildings whose construction was launched east of the Separation Barrier was larger than on its western side.
According to Peace Now's count, in the second half of 2009, the construction of 712 new structures started in settlements east of the fence - mostly comprising one or two housing units and including 120 trailers.  At the same time, the construction of 539 new structures started in settlements west of the fence in urban locations such as Modiin Illit, Maale Adumim, and Betar Illit - mostly large apartment buildings, and some single or double housing-units villas or cottages, including 12 trailers.  In recent years, there were typically more construction projects west of the fence, in areas often referred to as "settlement blocs," than east of it, in smaller and isolated settlements.  The data for the end of 2009 show that the settlers are "racing" to start as many construction projects as possible wherever they could before the freeze went into effect. 

These are some of the isolated settlements with the largest construction sites: 
Neria (Talmon B) -- 39 buildings
Tekoa -- 34 buildings
Tapuah -- 25 buildings
Tene -- 23 buildings
Maale Michmash -- 20 buildings
Yitzhar -- 20 buildings
Kedumim -- 19 buildings
Itamar -- 19 buildings
Har Bracha -- 18 buildings
Eli -- 18 buildings
Kochav Hashar -- 16 buildings
Avnei Hefetz -- 12 buildings
Dolev -- 11 buildings

Itamar, June 2009                                                                Itamar, December 2009

New Foundations Laid, Construction Did Not Continue - "A Long-Term Investment"
As part of the settlers' race to lay many foundations for new buildings before the construction freeze went into effect, during the second half of 2009 foundations were laid for some 390 structures whose construction has not yet started (including 170 cases of fake foundations).  It seems that the settlers decided to invest plenty of money in laying foundations without even having buyers for the apartments.  Apparently, they intended to ensure reserves of apartments on which work can continue during the Freeze, even if the freeze were to be extended beyond its initial 10-month period.
Peace Now monitors have identified with certainty 170 cases of fake foundations that were laid to create the impression that construction works had already started, so that construction work at these locations could continue during the Freeze.  The fake foundations are easily recognizable when touring the sites, and in many cases they can even be detected from aerial photos.  Peace Now has no information on whether the Civil Administration is turning a blind eye to this practice and treating the fake foundations as real construction starts which are allowed to continue, or whether it is making efforts to impose the Freeze and ban further construction works.

Fake foundations at the settlement of Kfar Adumim                Fake foundations at the settlement of Reihan  

Construction in outposts
In the second half of 2009, the construction of 25 permanent houses started and 93 new trailers were placed in the outposts (as compared with 19 permanent houses and 77 trailers in the first half of 2009).  In addition, development works continued there, and 33 housing units were expanded and new rooms were built.
Some of the outposts where construction works were carried out feature on the list of outposts that the state had pledged before the court to evacuate - including Migron, Mitzpe Lachish, and Ramat Gilad, where new permanent houses were built. In recent months, in several cases, the state notified the High Court of Justice that because it is busy enforcing the construction freeze in settlements, it cannot do the same in the outposts. However the data show that nearly nothing was done to prevent the expansion or to promote the evacuation of the outposts even during the months before the freeze was announced.
An exception that proves the rule was the completion of the evacuation of Yatir South, an outpost that the Olmert government declared was evacuated, even though two of its four trailers were left in place.  The site was apparently abandoned in recent months and the remaining two trailers finally removed.

Migron, December 2009                                                       Migron, June 2009 

Summary of 2009
According to the CBS data, 2009 eventually ended with 1,703 new housing units in the settlements - which is more than in 2006 and 2007 (1,518 and 1,471 respectively), but less than in 2008 (2,107 housing units), during which construction was expedited in the wake of the Annapolis conference.
According to CBS data, at the end of 2009, soon after the construction freeze order went into effect, there were 2,773 housing units under construction in the settlements on which work could continue according to the Freeze instructions.  As this report shows, the real numbers on the ground are far larger.  According to our research, it is reasonable to assume that the number of housing units under construction in the settlements during the Freeze period far exceeds 3,000.
Unless the moratorium period (which only refers to new construction starts) is expanded beyond its initial 10-month period, it will prove to have been completely meaningless in practical terms, because of the high numbers of starts at the eve of the moratorium that have been and will continue to be constructed. 
These data confirm a phenomenon which Peace Now has long recognized and called attention to: the settlers' race to initiate as many construction starts as possible before the freeze, followed by Netanyahu's and Barak's decisions to grant numerous construction permits, including for government-initiated projects, on the eve of the freeze.