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Israel pushes forward plan for 500 settlement houses

Xinhua, November 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Jerusalem municipality on Wednesday advanced a plan to build 500 housing units in Ramat Shlomo, a neighborhood settlement in East Jerusalem, the first such move since the U.S. elections.

The decision revives a plan that was initially approved in 2014 but later stalled amidst international criticism.

Under the plan, Ramat Shlomo, a mostly ultra-Orthodox settlement, would be expanded northeast.

Ir Amim, a Jerusalem-based human rights group, said in a statement that the construction is expected to "further encroach on Palestinian Beit Hanina, while linking to expansion of neighboring Ramot to the west."

Ramot is another Jewish settlement neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Israel seized East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, claiming the territory part of its "undividable" capital. The land is part of the occupied territory, with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where the Palestinians wish to establish their future state with Jerusalem as its capital. Endit