Israel issues 558 permits for East Jerusalem housing

[Jefferson23]

By The Associated Press and Yair

Israeli municipal authorities say they have issued building permits for 558 Jewish settler apartments in East Jerusalem, sought by the Palestinians for their state.

Wednesday's decision is bound to disrupt fragile U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The municipality says a local planning committee approved the building in the neighborhoods of Har Homa, Neve Yaakov and Pisgat Zeev, built on land Israel captured in the 1967 war and later annexed. Most of the international community considers them illegal settlements.

The city says the building projects received initial approval years ago.

Lior Amihai of the settlement watchdog group Peace Now says the new approvals are "shameful" at a time when the two sides are trying to negotiate the terms of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.572616

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

1. "shameful"

What's shameful is the charade of Israel bulldozing / destroying Palestinians home then turning around and granting them to Israelis.

From the article.

Brachie Sprung, a municipality spokeswoman, said the building projects received initial approval a few years ago, and that new building in Arab areas of Jerusalem was also approved Wednesday.
---
More than 550,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians want to establish a state in those territories as well as the Gaza Strip, all captured by Israel in 1967.

This is just another Israeli poke in the eye to the world.