Israel to build 40,000 homes in Jerusalem

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli authorities have approved a plan to build 40,000 new homes in Jerusalem, including in the annexed Arab eastern sector of the city, over the next decade, the municipality said on Monday.

The plan was approved by the National Planning and Building Committee on Sunday, municipal officials said.

Municipality spokesman Yossi Gottesman declined to say how many of the housing units would be build in east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war and whose annexation is not recognised by the international community.

Gottesman said the city does not differentiate between the two sides of the city.

The building committee last week authorised construction of 1,300 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem,...