West Bank, November 20, 2009, (Pal Telegraph) - An Israeli lawmaker reveals plans to build several thousand new houses around Jerusalem Al-Quds despite worldwide condemnation of Tel Aviv's relentless settlement expansion.
Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi said on Friday that the Israeli municipality of the annexed city is preparing to build 15,000 new housing units, mainly in areas beyond the Green Line in the occupied West Bank.
The news comes on the heels of the Interior Ministry's controversial approval of a plan to construct 900 homes in Gilo, one of a dozen Israeli settlements in the illegally annexed East Jerusalem Al-Quds.
The decision drew sharp criticism from the international community, including UN chief Ban Ki-moon who condemned the 'illegal' move for stunting peace efforts and casting doubt on the possibility of a two-state solution.
The United States, Britain and France also expressed regret over Israeli refusal to heed international calls to freeze its construction activity in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinians also described the move as 'the last nail in the coffin' of peace efforts based on the US-backed two-state solution.
Tibi, however, said the new 15,000 housing units were just waiting for approval from officials in Tel Aviv, stressing that the plans posed a more serious threat to the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem Al-Quds.
"These plans are larger and more dangerous than the recent plans to build 900 housing units in Gilo," Ma'an news agency quoted the Knesset member as saying in a telephone conversation.
The international community does not recognize Jerusalem Al-Quds as part of Israel although the regime seized the city along with the rest of the occupied West Bank during the six-day war in 1967.
The Palestinians consider the city, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque - the third Muslim holy site - and the Dome of the Rock, as the capital of their homeland and accuse Israel of making efforts to steal the city's Islamic-Palestinian identity.
Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews, on the other hand, fiercely oppose admitting the Palestinian identity of the city, claiming a 'God-given right' to Jerusalem Al-Quds as their 'eternal capital'.
MRS/HGH
Press TV
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