zionists to build 381 settler units in East al-Quds

The Israeli regime has approved plans to construct 381 new illegal settler units in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Tuesday that the Israeli civil administration, which falls under the ministry of military affairs, published plans for building the settler units in the Givat Zeev settlement.

The announcement came after Tel Aviv unveiled plans on January 10 to build more than 1,800 settler units in East al-Quds and the occupied West Bank, only days after fruitless efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to broker a deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

On January 12, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton voiced “deep concern” about Israel’s new announcement.

The Israeli settlement construction has sparked angry reactions from European countries, including Britain, Italy, France and Spain, who summoned Israeli envoys to their countries in protest at the regime’s illegal settlement plans.

On January 17, Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman summoned the envoys to the four EU states, expressing Tel Aviv’s anger at the European states’ “perpetual one-sided stance against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians.”

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.