Israel approves plan to build 1,000 settler homes in East. Jerusalem

The Israeli government has approved plans to build over 1,000 new settler homes in East Jerusalem. It will expand two existing Israeli settlements on part of the territories seized in 1967.
An official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the possible political and diplomatic impact. He said on Monday that "The government has decided to advance the planning of more than 1,000 units in Jerusalem – roughly 400 in Har Homa and about 600 in Ramat Shlomo," as cited by Reuters.

He also said that plans would be "advanced for infrastructure projects in the West Bank that will include roads for the Palestinians."
 
It is a sidestep by Netanyahu’s office, as the ultranationalist Jewish Home party and its leader Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, has been pressing the Prime Minister to call for 2,000 new building tenders. 

However, Palestinians regard the holy city of Jerusalem as a future capital of their state and strongly oppose any Israeli expansion. According to Reuters, in a statement the Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that "We strongly condemn the latest Israeli announcement to expand its illegal settlements in and around occupied East Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine."
"This announcement amounts to evidence of an intent to further commit crimes defined by, and punishable under international law," he added.
The new plan isn’t welcomed by some Israeli politicians. Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atid party told Reuters the settlement building "should not be promoted now because there is a crisis with the US and the world."
"There is never a good time to do such things, now more than ever as Jerusalem is burning," Lior Amichai of the settlement watchdog Peace Now told AFP. He added that it was unclear at what stage the Israeli plans were, or how close they were to construction.
The international community hasn’t shown any support for Israeli settlement building. Relations with Israel’s traditional ally the US have also become strained over public criticism of US foreign policy by Israeli officials............http://rt.com/news/199636-israel-new-houses-jerusalem/
27/10/14
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Related:

• Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday warned against the dangers entailed in measures taken by Israel with the aim of dividing holy sites in the Palestinian territories.... 

• Palestinians attack new East Jerusalem settler homes. (Settlers moved into more than 25 apartments in the area that they had purchased)

  •  Two senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet warned the premier late Sunday that more construction in Jewish settlements would further inflame already-tense ties with the United States....

• Israel's "illegal" settlement activity in occupied East Jerusalem is threatening the prospects of a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the U.N. secretary-general said Tuesday....

• Obama 'deeply concerned' about Israel's plan to build more settler homes