The Civil Administration is expected to ink its approval on 500 housing units for the Samaria community of Shilo on Wednesday.

The Judea and Samaria administration committee is also expected to retroactively legalize at least 200 more homes on humanitarian grounds in the nearby community of Shvut Rachel, according to IDF spokesman Guy Inbar.

The Civil Administration operates as a part of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CoGAT) under the Defense Ministry.

Shilo, home to more than 2,000 Jews, is located approximately 18 miles (30 kilometers) south of Shechem in Binyamin. Its neighbor, Shvut Rachel, is comprised of some 400 residents, and was founded in memory of Rachela Druk, mother of seven, murdered in 1991 by terrorist bullets while going by the area on a public bus. The busdriver was also killed in the attack.

The Defense Ministry indicated that any permit received by the Civil Administration in connection with new construction in Judea and Samaria will require special authorization.

Leftist Peace Now organization leader Yariv Oppenheimer had already begun to attack the decision Wednesday morning in an interview on Army Radio even prior to its announcement by the government.

"What began as an outpost of 30 units receives a jumpstart and becomes a huge settlement of thousands of new settlers,” he complained. “That is not the path to two states; that is the path to a bi-national state.” (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 02/22/12)