LONDON: The Palestinian Authority warned on Monday about an Israeli plan to construct hundreds of houses for Israeli settlers, representing the largest expansion of settlements in recent years in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities approved the construction of 450 new housing units after two years of review. The units will acommodate almost 2,000 settlers in the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Lison.
The Jerusalem Governorate warned that the hundreds of flats in buildings up to 10 stories high will significantly alter Umm Lison’s urban character and demographic composition.
Umm Lison, which includes about 800 housing units, most of which are two- or three-story buildings, is located between Jabal Al-Mukabbir and Sur Baher in East Jerusalem, according to the Palestine News Agency.
Israeli authorities have implemented similar settlement projects in the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, among them the Maale Zeitim settlement in Ras Al-Amud, an area that overlooks the walled city of Jerusalem.
“Palestinians in Jerusalem are facing an integrated colonial replacement project, rather than separate measures or isolated violations, based on expanding colonization, seizing land, demolishing homes, imposing planning restrictions and isolating Palestinian neighborhoods from their surroundings,” the Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement.
Israeli settlement building and expansion in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have long been condemned by many members of the UN, and viewed as obstacles to establishing a Palestinian state and achieving broader peace in the region.
There are 279 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 14 in East Jerusalem. They are built either on private land taken from Palestinians or on public land that was deemed to be owned by the government of Jordan, which once ruled the area. Almost 737,000 settlers live in these settlements, among 3.43 million Palestinians.
