Zionist regime begins constructing 310 new settler units in occupied Old City

Israeli officials have started building hundreds of new settler units in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds, despite the international outcry against the Israeli regime’s land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in Palestinian territories.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing Hebrew-language media outlets, reported that the so-called Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee will hold discussions on constructing two settlements in the eastern sector of the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, one of which will be erected in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, located 2 kilometers north of the Old City.

Israeli authorities allege that the construction projects will be carried out on two pieces of land owned by settlers living abroad.

The report added that 15 settler units will be built in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, while 75 others will be constructed in Beit Hanina neighborhood. The remaining 220 units will be built in the Yeshiva Neveh Zion district on the outskirts of Jerusalem al-Quds.

Less than a month before US President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem” al-Quds.

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014. Among the major sticking points in those negotiations was Israel’s continued settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.

Trump backtracked on Washington’s support for a “two-state solution” earlier this year, saying he would support any solution favored by both sides.

“Looking at two-state or one-state, I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the one both parties like. I can live with either one,” the US president said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on February 15.

Palestinian boy injured after being struck by settler car

Meanwhile, a Palestinian teenage boy has sustained injuries after an Israeli settler ran him over in the southern part of the occupied West Bank.

Local sources, requesting anonymity, told Arabic-language Ma’an news agency that the 16-year-old victim, identified as Munir Abdullah Gharib, was struck on a road in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of al-Khalil (Hebron), located 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Jerusalem al-Quds, on Friday afternoon.

The sources added that the settler fled the scene after the incident.

Gharib was quickly transferred to the Governmental Hospital in al-Khalil to receive medical treatment.

There have been scores of “hit and run” incidents targeting Palestinians in different parts of the occupied West Bank, with most of them largely going uninvestigated by Israeli authorities. Some of such events have resulted in fatalities.

Palestinian teenager Rushdi Yasser al-Khatib, was struck on the road linking the towns of Hizma and ‘Anata northeast of the occupied Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds on March 11.