Israel's Housing Ministry published tenders Sunday for 1,028 homes to be built in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, part of a plan to build 6,000 housing units throughout Israel, dpa reported.
According to a statement by the ministry, 500 homes will be built in Har Homa in south Jerusalem, on land occupied in the 1967 Middle East War; 348 in the West Bank settlement of Betar Illit; and 180 in Givat Ze'ev, which lies between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
Previous decisions by Israel to construct homes on land captured in the 1967 war have aroused anger among Palestinians, and been heavily criticized by the international community.
Also Sunday, an Israeli government ministerial committee rejected a proposed bill which would have retroactively legalized settlement outposts built on Palestinian land without government permission.
The bill, submitted by a legislator from a religious-nationalist coalition party, was opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told the ministerial committee head to make sure it was not approved.
...