BRUSSELS
EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on Wednesday said she was deeply concerned by Israeli officials' approval of the construction of 558 settlement units in East Jerusalem, Har Homa, Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Ze'ev.
Ashton issued a written statement on Thursday saying that the construction plans might jeopardize regional cooperation between East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
"The EU and the international community have repeatedly warned that any unilateral action prejudging the final status of Jerusalem threatens the current peace negotiations and, as a consequence, the two-state solution," she said.
OIC slams Israel's new settlement plan in Al-Quds
Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad bin Amin Madani on Thursday lashed out at a recent plan announced by the Israeli authorities to construct new 558 settlement homes in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem).
Madani called on the UN Security Council to take a firm action against Israel's continued settlement construction policy in the occupied Palestinian lands.
"Settlement expansion projects are a flagrant violation against the rights of the Palestinian people," Madani said in a statement that was posted on the organization's website.
"They are also a blatant violation of international legitimacy as well as a threat to the progress of peace talks and the materialization of the two-state vision," he added.
He said Israel's insistence on changing the demography of Al-Quds and isolating it from its Palestinian surroundings must be met with a decisive action from the international community.
He added that the UN Security Council has to shoulder its responsibilities and act to stop repeated Israeli violations, which amount to "war crimes."
The Jerusalem Municipality's planning and building committee on Wednesday approved the construction of 558 new Jewish settlement units in Al-Quds.
According to the Israeli website, as many as 386 new settlement units will be built in Gabal Abu Ghneam (which Jews calls Har Homa) in southeastern Al-Quds; 136 new units in the Neve Yaakov settlement in northeastern Al-Quds; and 36 new units in the Pisgat Zeev settlement in the north of the city.
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