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Israel is all set to go ahead with the construction of 2,160 settler homes in occupied east Jerusalem, activist group Peace Now said on Wednesday. Several Palestinian leaders were angered by the move, considered illegal by the international community.
The settler homes, which have been planned for construction in the neighborhood of Givat Hamatos since 2012, were approved last week, the activist NGO said in a statement. The watchdog added that the settlement plans have damaged the prospects of permanent peace in the region and the chances of Palestinian statehood.
Spokeswoman for Peace Now Hagit Ofran said that the Israeli government will likely now publish tenders for the settlement project, but that it could take months for work to actually begin.
“Givat Hamatos is destructive to the two state solution. It divides the potential Palestinian state… (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu continues his policy of destroying the possibility of a two state solution”, Peace Now said in its statement.
Ofran added that the timing of the approval was a political move, but that the reason for it was unclear.
Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel, who also lives in an Israeli settlement, insisted on an Israeli army radio program that the move was part of “the normal process of authorization necessary before any construction project in Jerusalem.
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Hanan Ashrawi criticized the move, and said that the Israeli government was interested in “stealing land” more “than making peace”.
On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington was concerned over Israel’s settlement plans. Obama had raised the “troubling” development in his face-to-face talks with the Israeli Prime Minister.
The construction of Israeli settlements on annexed Arab land, including east Jerusalem and occupied West Bank, is illegal under international law and has caused the breakdown of peace talks on several occasions. The settlements are built on territory the Palestinians consider theirs for a future Palestinian state. Around 200,000 settlers currently live in east Jerusalem settlements along with around 306,000 Palestinians, according to numbers from east Jerusalem’s municipality.
