Constraints include a lack of on-hand ready-to-build lots (the price of pre-developed land lots has skyrocketed), tight lending standards for small to mid-sized builders, and a notable shortage of construction workers since tradesmen fled the city several years ago and have not returned.
Abbas says he won't return to negotiations without an Israeli construction freeze, arguing that Israel's building on war-won land pre-empts the outcome of talks on a border between Israel and a future state of Palestine.
Utilising straw for biomass represents one of the most efficient methods for its disposal and pre-empts the need for it to be ploughed back into the land.
For the refugee camps in the east, supply lines to the land-locked country are already under pressure as pre-positioning of food starts ahead of the rainy season.
But he said the land forces could continue their assigned missions if they were cut to their pre-2001 levels of 175, 000 for the Marines and 482, 000 for the Army.
The week ends on Thursday with a bang as the Treasury Committee (at 9.45pm) has a pre-appointment hearing with Dr Mark Carney, soon to become one of the most powerful people in the land, when he takes over as the next governor of the Bank of England.