A Zionist planning committee on Wednesday granted final approval for the construction of 69 east Jerusalem settlements, an official said, on the eve of a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
A Zionist planning committee on Wednesday granted final approval for the construction of 69 east Jerusalem settlements, an official said, on the eve of a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
"The municipal committee has today given its final approval for the construction of 69 homes in Har Homa in east Jerusalem," councilor Meir Margalit told media outlets.
The approval was granted by the municipal planning committee just hours before Kerry touched down in Amman on his fifth visit to the region since February as he steps up efforts to draw the Zionist entity and the Palestinians back into direct negotiations.
Margalit, who is a member of the leftwing Meretz party, believed the new decision is a blind provocation against Kerry.
"It proves just how much the government of Bibi (Benjamin) Netanyahu wants peace," he added.
Har Homa is a settlement neighborhood located in the southern sector of Arab east Jerusalem which was occupied by the Zionist entity during the 1967 Six-Day War then annexed, in a move not recognized by the international community.
News of the plans emerged just before Kerry took off from Kuwait en route to Amman.
Settlement construction was the issue which brought about a collapse of direct peace talks in September 2010 just weeks after they were started when the Zionist entity refused to renew a freeze on all new West Bank construction.
The Palestinians have said they will not return to talks without a complete halt to settlement construction and accept the 1967 lines as the basis for negotiations, while the entity of occupation has hit back saying it would only negotiate if there were no such "pre-conditions".
Building work at Har Homa, which is close to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, began in 1997 during Netanyahu's first term as premier, in a move which led to the breakdown of peace talks.
