Israel to approve 1500 new homes

The Israeli Parliamentary Finance Committee will meet next Sunday to approve the construction of 1500 housing units for Israeli settlers in occupied Jerusalem, according to Ahmad Sab-Laban – a Palestinian expert researcher on Israeli settlement affairs. Laban said the approved plans were in retaliation to Palestine’s United Nations Observer status granted at a summit in 2012. He added the new units would expand in the direction of the Palestinian town of Shufat, which will seriously limit the possibility of expanding the area from its western side. If the construction goes ahead, Israel would be confiscating 140 acres of Palestinian land. According to Laban, this had ‘angered’ the United States, during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden who was in talks with both sides in an effort to resume peace talks. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling on members of the Madrid Quartet, which includes the United Nations, the US, European Union and Russia to immediately end Israeli expansion activities.