Israel to build 500 new settlement units in Jerusalem

The Israeli Planning and Construction Committee in Jerusalem yesterday approved a new settlement plan consisting of 500 settlement units in occupied Jerusalem, Quds Press reported.

In a statement, Ir Amim, an Israeli leftist NGO, which revealed the plan, said that the new settlement units are an expansion of the illegal settlement of Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem, noting the construction is planned on private Palestinian land.

The new settlement units are to be built in an area of 76 dunums (0.076 square kilometres) located between the illegal settlement of Ramat Shlomo and the Arab Shuafat neighbourhood.

Head of the Committee, Meir Turgeman, said that settlement construction had been frozen for the past two years due to US and international pressure. “Now that Trump [won], I hope he will put Jerusalem as a priority,” he said.