OCCUPIED Al-QUDS – The Israeli occupation authorities are planning to construct more settler units in the occupied Palestinian territories, offering tenders for the construction of 77 homes, according to Press TV.
Peace Now, an Israeli activist group, said on Monday that 36 of the units are being offered in the settlement neighborhood of Neve Yaakov and another 41 in Pisgat Zee, which are both located at the northern edge of al-Quds (Jerusalem).
The group’s spokeswoman Hagit Ofran said “the publication of the tenders could also be “an indicator from Netanyahu’s transitional government of what can perhaps be expected — God forbid — when the new government is formed.”
The activist group also censured the Israeli premier for “seeking to prevent the chance of peace” with the Palestinians.
A day before the election, Netanyahu said he would press ahead with settlement construction in East al-Quds if he won the vote.
He added that Palestinians would never be allowed to establish their capital in the city in case of his reelection, adding, “I won’t let that happen.
Israel has tried to change the demographic makeup of al-Quds over the past decades by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank including East Jerusalem al-Quds in 1967.
Much of the international community regards the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were occupied by Israel in 1967, and they are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
Press TV
H.M