The so-called Israeli ‘Committee of Local Planning and Construction’ of the Jerusalem Municipality approved, on Sunday, the construction of 64 new housing units in the illegal ‘Ramot’ settlement of occupied East Jerusalem.The announcement came during a meeting held, in the presence of committee members, at the municipality headquarters, according to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency.
A member of the Meretz party commented at the decision, saying that the municipality continues its practice of building off the Green Line, which will inhibit any chance of reaching a political agreement with Palestinians.
Israeli settlements in the Palestinan territories typically refer to the Jewish-designated civilian communities built on lands occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
Settlements also existed in the Gaza Strip until Israel evacuated settlements in 2005, under a unilateral disengagement plan. Israel dismantled 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and 4 in the West Bank that year, but continues to expand its settlements and claim new areas in the West Bank, in spite of the Oslo Accords, which specify in Paragraph 31 that neither side would take any step which would change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations.
However, Israeli settlement expansion has continued unabated, despite official condemnation by almost all other nations and the UN.
See also: 02/07/15 Belgium’s Parliament Approves Conditional Recognition of Palestine
