By Abdel-RaoufArnaout
JERUSALEM
An Israeli planning committee on Wednesday approved plans to build 200 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem's Local Planning Construction Committee approved construction of 200 new housing units in the Jewish-only Ramot Settlement, which lies beyond the Green Line, according to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
The committee is also expected to approve construction of 176 housing units for Arab residents of the city's BeitHanina and BeitSafafa neighborhoods, according to the newspaper.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered construction of a further 1,060 Jewish-only housing units in East Jerusalem
The situation in the occupied city has been further aggravated by increasingly frequent visits by groups of extremist Jewish settlers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, where they are frequently seen performing Talmudic rituals.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the historic city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
Sacred to both Muslims and Jews, Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which for Muslims represents the world's third holiest site.
Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories, considering all Jewish settlement building on the land to be illegal.
Palestinians accuse Israel of waging an aggressive campaign to "Judaize" the city with the aim of effacing its Arab and Islamic identity and ultimately driving out its Palestinian inhabitants.
Palestinian negotiators, for their part, say that Israeli settlement building must stop before stalled peace talks can resume.
www.aa.com.tr/en
