Hebrew media sources have unveiled an Israeli plan to build 1600 settlement units northeast of Jerusalem among several projects that will be launched following Jewish holidays next week.
According to plans published by Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing the project will be implemented in a sensitive area adjacent to Palestinian neighborhoods in the holy city.
Hebrew sources said that the project in its first phase involves the construction of 519 housing units in Neve Yaakov settlement. In the following stages 1167 housing units will be built in the area located between Neve Yaakov and Geva Binyamin (Adam) settlements close to the road connecting the northern and southern parts of the West Bank.
Settlement expert Khalil al-Tafakji told the PIC reporter that this Israeli scheme is aimed at undermining geographical contiguity in the occupied West Bank enhancing settlement expansion projects and making the two-state solution impossible and unattainable.
Al-Tafakji added that this plan is similar to Abu Ghneim neighborhood project which was launched in 1997 and stirred international condemnation back then. However the project which involved the construction of 17000 settlement units was later approved in blatant disregard for the international opposition.
The Palestinian expert pointed out that most of Adam settlement’s lands are classified within Area C and that there is another plan to expand it to the south-east and north so that its area would be larger than the area of Jerusalem’s old villages and neighborhoods.
