The Israeli municipality approved on Wednesday the construction of 181 new settlement units in occupied Jerusalem.
Israel Radio said that the local Planning and Building Committee of the municipality ratified a plan to build 181 settlement units in Gilo settlement south of Jerusalem and Ramat Shlomo north of the city.
The same committee had approved in the past two weeks the construction of more than 700 settlement units east of occupied Jerusalem. The Israeli government also adopted a scheme to build 5500 settlement units in the West Bank.
The decision came two days after the Knesset passed a new bill that legalized thousands of settlement units and 53 settlement outposts and endorsed the confiscation of 8000 dunums of privately-owned Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
The bill was met with Arab and international condemnation which described it as “racist unethical and illegal” and affirmed that “it undermines the chances of the two-state solution.”
Tzipi Hotovely the Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs defended the bill and rejected the international criticism.
The Israeli Knesset issued a final approval on Monday evening for the new bill which is aimed at legalizing the unauthorized outposts built on private Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
The bill prevents Israeli courts from taking any decision providing for dismantling these outposts and adopts the principle of compensation either by money or lands.
