Israel advances plans for 770 new homes

Move by Jerusalem committee fuels Palestinian outcry

JERUSALEM // Israeli authorities have moved forward with plans for 770 new settler homes in annexed East Jerusalem, drawing condemnation from Palestinian leaders and the United Nations. The homes would expand the Gilo settlement on the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem.

They are part of a larger plan for about 1,200 units approved nearly three years ago, said Ir Amim, an NGO that monitors Israeli settlement activity.

The land where they are to be built requires technical approval known as “reparcelisa-tion” by Jerusalem’s planning and building committee for the process to advance, according to Ir Amim. The committee has now put forward the plans for public objections ahead of possible approval. “The plans in question are not new, and were approved three years ago,” according to the office of Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat.

“Recent deliberations in the municipal planning committee concerned technical details of plot distribution within the previously approved project.”

The move to further advance the plans drew condemnation from UN and Palestinian officials.

Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. They are also considered major stumbling blocks to peace efforts because they are built on land Palestinians view as part of their future state.

A recent report by the diplomatic Quartet – comprising the United States, European Union, Russia and the UN – said settlement expansion was eroding the possibility of a two- state solution to the conflict.

“I strongly condemn the recent decision by Israeli authorities to advance plans to build about 770 housing units in the settlement of Gilo, built on the lands of occupied Palestinian towns and villages between Bethlehem and East Jerusalem,” said Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said the decision “further reflects the failure of the international community to stop Israel’s settlement expansion”. Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967.

It later annexed East Jerusalem, which Palestinians view as their future capital.