Israel to build 77 new illegal settlement units

The Israeli government has issued tenders for 77 new Jewish-only settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli NGO said Monday.

According to leftist Peace Now movement, which campaigns against Israeli settlement activities, 36 of the new tenders are for Neve Yaakov settlement and 41 for Pisgat Zeev.

The movement slammed the move as an “indicator” of the policies of the new government that is in the making under outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party won the country’s parliamentary elections last month.

Earlier this year, the group said that Israeli settlement construction in occupied Palestinian territories by increased by 40 percent during 2014.

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 in a move never recognized by the international community.

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.

source: World Bulletin