Israel approves 800 new illegal settlement units in Jerusalem

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Israeli government of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, granted Thursday its official approval for the construction of 800 units in the Gilo illegal settlement, south of occupied Jerusalem, Israeli Peace Now Movement reported.Director the Settlement Watch project of Peace Now, Hagit Ofran, said that a plan for the construction of 800 units was published in an Israeli paper, an issue that means that the construction plan reached its final stages, and that construction bids could be issued at any moment.A planning committee put out a tender for the building of 797 housing units on the western slopes of the urban settlement of Gilo, on an area that Israel seized in the 1967 war and later declared part of Jerusalem.Construction bids will be made public in the coming few months, anti-settler group Peace Now added.Israel focuses its settlement activities in sensitive areas in the occupied West Bank, such as in and around occupied East Jerusalem, hilltops, the Jordan Valley and all areas that have water resources and fertile grounds./129