Ramallah, Palestine
Palestine has rejected an Israeli plan to build a new settlement of 450 houses in East Jerusalem. She said the plan ignores countries that support a two-state solution. “Israel’s plan is ignoring countries that do not accept settlements,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement on Tuesday. He said the plan aimed to “separate Palestinian neighborhoods, towns and communities from each other in Jerusalem”. Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel is moving forward with plans to build 450 housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem.
According to the report, plans for a new Jewish settlement between the Palestinian villages of Umm Lisan and Jabal Muqaber in East Jerusalem are being spearheaded by a real estate company run by a right-wing activist. In a press statement, the ministry said, “The Israeli government is moving increasingly towards implementing its expansionist map of interests at the expense of Palestinian lands and consolidating the occupation of Jerusalem.”
It added, “These plans also aim to impose Israeli law on East Jerusalem and to separate it from the Palestinian enclave.” Palestinians demand that an independent state be established alongside Israel on all Palestinian territories captured by Israel in 1967, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
