Israeli occupation authorities are to discuss the approval of 1,800 settlement units in the Sheikh Jarrah Neighbourhood, in the heart of occupied Jerusalem.
According to Israeli rights watchdog Peace Now, the Israeli Jerusalem Regional Committee would discuss the approval of the project on July 16.
The project requires the expulsion of five Palestinian families from the occupied Palestinian neighbourhood, according to Days of Palestine.
Peace Now said that two buildings, five and seven stores, are planned to replace the houses of the five Palestinian families.
Additionally, a nine-story yeshiva campus that includes student accommodation and a six-story office building are also planned to be built in Sheikh Jarrah.
Peace Now said that this is the first time in recent years that new settlement units are being planned for settlers within a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem.
Settlers have been engaged in an ongoing legal battle over the two plans, which aim to be established on the property where the five Palestinian families reside, for a total of 13 settlement units.
The families in question are regarded, legally, as protected tenants in the Israeli-owned properties, a status that was achieved according to an Israeli law which allows Jewish Israelis to claim ownership of property if they can prove it was under Jewish ownership before 1948.
However, the law only applies to Jewish Israelis, and not to Palestinians who were dispossessed of their lands and properties prior to and after the establishment of Israel in 1948, despite their right being upheld by UN General Assembly Resolution 194.
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