Israel Approves More Settlements in East Jerusalem

[Press TV] Israel Approves More Settlements in East Jerusalem

Recorded on January 9, 2010 @ 0900GMT


Related news item:
Israeli media: More settlement building underway in Jerusalem
Source: Maan News Agency
Date: January 9, 2010

Bethlehem – Ma’an /Agencies – New plans to build even more settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, despite international calls for a standstill, were revealed on Friday by the Israel daily newspaper the Jerusalem News.

The daily reported that a local construction and planning committee will review blueprints for a new settlement comprising 100 housing units, to be built on the site of the former Israeli police headquarters in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras Al-A’moud, east Jerusalem.

The new settlement, Ma’alut David, is to be built on 11 dunums of land on and around the former police site, which was responsible for the West Bank, Jerusalem News stated.

Ma’alut David’s construction was stalled for several months while a new building for the police department was under construction near the illegal settlement of Ma’aleh Adummin, opposite the Palestinian town of Abu Dis in occupied Jerusalem. The latest unlawful housing unit is situated 300 meters from another Israeli settlement, Ma’aleh HaZeitim, on the Mount of Olives.

Right wing Israeli activist Arieh King, who first called for the construction of Ma’aleh HaZeitim, said that Ma’alut David was not an expansion to the already existing settlement, but rather an independent build, the daily reported.

The newspaper noted, “If US President Barak Obama thought that his request that Israel freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank in general and Jerusalem in particular would be met with a positive response from Israel, facts on the ground prove otherwise, with the acceleration of settlement building in Jerusalem over the past few days.”
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