Occupied Jerusalem: Israel has approved 560 new homes for the West Bank colony of Maale Adumim, a spokesman for the colony said Monday, in a move likely to further raise tensions.
The Maale Adumim mayor was on Sunday night officially informed of the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman to allow the planning of the homes in the colony east of occupied Jerusalem, the spokesman told AFP.
According to media reports, Netanyahu also gave approval for the planning of 240 new homes in occupied east Jerusalem colony neighbourhoods, as well as for 600 units for Palestinians in the city’s Beit Safafa district.
The offices of Netanyahu and Lieberman refused to comment on the reports of the approvals for homes in occupied east Jerusalem or Maale Adumim.
Israeli NGO Peace Now has said that the number of West Bank colonies Israel plans to build more than tripled in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year.
Between January and March, projects for 674 housing units passed at least one of the steps in the planning approval process, up from 194 in the first quarter of 2015, it said.
The colonies are considered illegal under international law and are seen as major stumbling blocks to peace efforts since they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.
The US and the European Union, among others, have strongly criticised Israeli colony construction.
Palestine Liberation Organisation secretary-general Saeb Erekat said in a statement that “the continued Israeli colonisation of Palestine is a war crime under international law”.
Some 2.8 million Palestinians live in West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem in near constant tension with more than 500,000 Israeli colonists.
