Israel revives shelved plan to build 500 new illegal settler units
The Israeli regime has revived an initiative for constructing 500 new illegal settler units in East Jerusalem al-Quds after the suspension of the project due to international pressure.
The Israeli anti-settlement NGO, Ir Amim, said that the Jerusalem municipality had decided to go ahead with the plan on Wednesday.
"This morning, the local planning and building committee made the decision to advance (with the plan)... for 500 units in Ramat Shlomo” neighborhood in the occupied Palestinian territories, Ir Amim said.
The project was approved by the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee two years ago, but it was suspended amid global pressure.
The new illegal settler units will be built on a 76-acre lot between Ramat Shlomo and the Palestinian neighborhood of Shuafat after expropriating private Palestinian land in the area.
The development came a week after Israeli lawmakers gave their initial approval to a controversial bill that would grant legal status to settlement outposts illegally constructed on privately-owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier this month, Israeli Science Minister Ofir Akunis said that Tel Aviv should begin a new wave of settlement construction in the West Bank after the victory of US President-elect Donald Trump.
The remarks came after Jason Greenblatt, a top advisor to Trump on Israel, said, “It is certainly not Mr. Trump’s view that settlement activities should be condemned.”
Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds.
The Tel Aviv regime has defied international calls to stop its illegal construction activities, with its settlement expansion being among the main reasons behind the collapse of the last round of the so-called Middle East peace talks in 2014.
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