Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the acceleration of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, his office said Tuesday, DPA reported.
The move follows the vote Monday by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to admit Palestine as a member state.
Following a meeting with key ministers, Netanyahu ordered the government to accelerate the construction of 2,000 housing units in Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and Maale Adumim. These areas would remain within Israeli territory in any future agreement with the Palestinians, he said.
The ministers were to meet again soon to discuss additional steps.
While the Palestinians welcomed UNESCO's decision as "historic," Israel rejected it, and the United States immediately withdrew Washington's hefty funding for the organization, as dictated by US law.