Israel to Build 450 New Settlement Units in East Jerusalem

On Tuesday, Palestine rejected an Israeli plan to build 450 new settlement units in East Jerusalem, saying the plan has disregarded the countries that support the two-state solution.

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Israel's plan is "disregarding the countries that reject the settlement," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a press statement, adding the plan "aims to separate Palestinian neighborhoods, towns, and communities in Jerusalem from each other."

Earlier in the day, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that Israel is advancing a plan to build 450 housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem.

The plan for a new Jewish neighborhood between the Palestinian villages of Umm Lisan and Jabal Mukkaber in East Jerusalem is being pursued by a real estate company run by a right-wing activist, according to the report.

"The Israeli government is racing against time in implementing its expansionist map of interests at the expense of the Palestinian land and deepening the annexation of Jerusalem," the Palestinian diplomats said.

"These plans also aim at imposing Israeli law on East Jerusalem and separating it from its Palestinian surroundings," they added, accusing the Israelis of sabotaging and undermining any opportunity to implement the principle of the two-state solution and to "establish a viable, sovereign, and geographically contiguous Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital."

The Israeli settlement issue is the most prominent aspect of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for the breakdown of the U.S.-sponsored peace talks in 2014.

The Palestinians demand the establishment of an independent state alongside Israel on all Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.