JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities gave final approval yesterday to the construction of 380 new settler homes in two areas of annexed east Jerusalem, a local official said.
“The municipal commission has given construction permits for 307 homes in Ramot and 73 in Har Homa,” Yosef Pepe Alalu, a Jerusalem city councillor with the opposition Meretz party, said.
He said local officials were taking advantage of attention focusing on Israeli elections due in March to expand settlements. “This kind of decision distances us from any chance of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians,” he said.
Despite repeated warnings from Washington that it is fuelling tensions, Israel has approved a series of plans for new settler homes in east Jerusalem in recent months.
Israel seized east Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.
It refers to the entire city as its “united, undivided capital”, and does not view construction there as settlement activity.
The Palestinians want the city’s eastern sector as capital of their promised state and vehemently oppose any Israeli attempt to expand construction there.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisted last month that Israel would never consider the building of Jewish settlements in Jerusalem as “settlement activity”.
Graft probe
Meanwhile, Israeli police said they had detained more than 30 serving and former public officials in an investigation into alleged corruption linked to a party in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.
Israeli media identified the officials as being connected to Yisrael Beitenu, the party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and Deputy Interior Minister Faina Kirshenbaum, a senior party member, as one of the suspects.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said some suspects had already been brought to court for remand hearings. She said the suspected crimes in the case included fraud, breach of trust and money laundering.
Yisrael Beitenu issued a statement denying wrongdoing and said police had deliberately targeted the party ahead of a general election on March 17 in which Netanyahu is seeking a fourth term.
“We are certain of the innocence of those (suspected of wrongdoing) ... and after the noise and media fervour dissipates, it will be found that there is nothing to support these publications apart from an effort to harm (the party), and it will fail,” part of the statement said. AFP
