Israel to continue building in Jerusalem in defiance of U.N. resolution

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel is pushing ahead building plans in areas the U.N. Security Council recently declared as occupied Palestinian territory and weighing new steps against U.N. agencies, as the censure roils its halls of power.

The Jerusalem municipal planning committee will review requests Wednesday to build hundreds of apartments in East Jerusalem, according to its agenda. That would contradict the terms of Resolution 2334, which demands that Israeli halt all building in areas it won in the 1967 Middle East war and brands construction there illegal.

Israel already has taken a number of steps since the resolution passed Dec. 23, including limiting work ties with countries that voted for the resolution, rebuking member states’ representatives, recalling Israeli ambassadors from co-sponsors New Zealand and Senegal, and pledging to cut off nearly $8 million in funding to U.N. institutions.

A senior Israeli official said additional measures may be in the offing against U.N. agencies it considers particularly hostile, including the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which serves Palestinian refugees; the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; and the U.N. observer force on the Golan Heights. Steps being considered include restricting new recruits to the agencies, delaying visas for their officials, and halting or delaying visits of experts to those agencies, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue is sensitive.

Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, said such steps against the agency would be unprecedented. “We have not heard anything directly, we’ve just seen media reports” about potential steps, he said.

Israel has reacted with fury since the Obama administration let the resolution pass by breaking with U.S. practice and not exercising its power to veto a measure the Israeli government perceives as damaging. At a time when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been boasting of Israel’s improved international standing, the council’s decision threatens to further isolate his country over its half-century of control over Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Israel says the U.N. vote will convince Palestinians they can get what they want without having to negotiate, making them more intransigent. Netanyahu has already warned his Cabinet that the vote won’t be Washington’s last foray into the region in the waning days of President Barack Obama’s administration.