Israel to Speed Construction of Over 300 Housing Units in East Jerusalem

Al-Quds, 23 Rabi’ul Awwal 1438/23 December 2016 (MINA) – A few hours after Egypt delayed a UN Security Council vote on a resolution demanding a halt to settlement activities, Israel has declared its intention to expedite the construction of over 300 housing units in east Jerusalem settlements.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Thursday, the Israeli district planning and building committee will speed up a plan to build 192 housing units in Ramat Shlomo settlement, 136 others in Ramot settlement and eight in Beit Hanina.

The UN Security Council on Thursday suspended a vote on a draft resolution demanding Israel to halt its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories at the request of Egypt, the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) reported.

Reuters quoted diplomats at the UN as saying that Egypt justified its request for the delay to allow time for consultations with other Arab countries, but no new time or date for the vote was scheduled.

According to these diplomats, Egypt had put forward the resolution on Wednesday evening with the intent of having it put to a vote on Thursday, but following heavy Israeli and US pressure on Egypt’s president Abdul-Fattah al-Sissi, the vote was shelved.(T/R04/RS05)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)