Israel Okays New Settlement In East Jerusalem

Israeli authorities have approved the construction of more than 1,700 new homes, a non-governmental organization said Wednesday, a move constituting the expansion of settlements in occupied east Jerusalem, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Half the "new neighborhood" comprising 1,738 housing units will be in the city's annexed east.

Half the "new neighborhood" comprising 1,738 housing units will be in the city's annexed east, the Israeli NGO Peace Now said.

"If it weren't for the war (between Israel and Hamas), there would be a lot of noise. It's a highly problematic project for the continuity of a Palestinian state between the southern West Bank and east Jerusalem," Peace Now's Hagit Ofran told AFP. The NGO added:

"Half of the Lower Aqueduct neighborhood is situated beyond the Green Line in east Jerusalem, and the other half is within the Green Line. "However, its strategic location between the neighborhoods of Givat Hamatos and Har Homa makes it particularly problematic from a political standpoint."

The Green Line refers to the 1949 Armistice Line established at the end of the war that accompanied Israel's founding a year earlier.

It divided the city between Israeli-governed West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem, which was administered by Jordan until the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the United Nations.

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