The Jerusalem municipality has taken an administrative step towards building some 200 apartments, a synagogue and a school in a disputed area in East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported. It is unclear when the building would begin.
Yossi Gottesman, deputy spokesperson for the municipality, told Xinhua on Wednesday that the municipality has "transferred legal ownership of several dunams of land" in the neighborhood of Gilo. But he did not specify if the property would be used for housing, the synagogue or the school.
City spokesman Stephan Miller said there was no immediate plan for construction.
Gilo, lying on the southern edge of Jerusalem, and some other Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967 and later annexed, are considered by international community as Israeli settlements and one of the main obstacles to Israeli- Palestinian peace process.
While Israel argues that Jerusalem is its "indivisible" capital and refuses to stop any construction activity there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that "our policy on Jerusalem is the same policy followed by all Israeli governments for the past 42 years, and it has not changed."
Elsewhere, city officials are also reportedly weighing renewing demolition and razing of what they call illegally-built Arab structures in East Jerusalem, a policy halted about half a year ago under international pressure.
"There is no news on the matter and no special demand has been made. The demolitions were delayed for a number of months until Jerusalem's development budget was approved by the Interior Ministry, which also includes funds for razing," Jerusalem municipality told local news service Ynet.
The news promptly aroused harsh criticism from the Palestinians, who see the east part of the holy city as the capital of their future state.
"This is a declaration of a new war," Khatem Abd al-Kader, Palestinian National Authority (PNA) minister for Jerusalem affairs, told Ynet, adding that the decision is "a new Israeli war crime, a massacre against Palestinian homes in Jerusalem."
These latest moves come as Israeli government is facing substantial pressure from the United States to freeze its construction in Ease Jerusalem as well as in the West Bank to pave the way for possible proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
U.S. and Israel were in a feud when an Israeli regional building community approved a housing plan in the Jewish community Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem in March. The U.S. administration sharply condemned the Israeli decision, which put the proximity talks at the brink of breaking down.
Israeli media reported that the Obama administration has requested Israeli government to freeze its construction in the disputed areas of Jerusalem for some time, and is waiting for response from the Jewish state.
Although Israeli government has repeatedly vowed no change of the policy on construction in Jerusalem, local daily Ha'aretz reported earlier this month that Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee officials have made on hold the approval of any construction plan, so as to avoid further rubs between Israel and Washington.
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