Angered by UN resolution, Israel says will build thousands more settler units

Israel plans to construct thousands more illegal settler units on occupied Palestinian territory in flagrant defiance of a recent UN Security Council resolution, which decried the Tel Aviv regime’s policy of settlement expansion and demanding the halt of such activities.

The Hebrew-language daily Israel Hayom reported on Sunday that the so-called Jerusalem al-Quds Local Planning and Building Committee is poised to approve some 5,600 housing units in East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The report added that the move comes as a response to the UNSC resolution, noting that 2,600 housing units are to be built in the illegal Gilo settlement in southwestern East Jerusalem al-Quds, 2,600 others in Givat HaMatos, and 400 units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement.

Israel Hayom, quoting the deputy mayor of Jerusalem al-Quds Meir Turjuman, also wrote that he “did not care” about the United Nations or any other entity telling them what to do in the city.

Turjuman also said he was looking forward to the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump to “make up for the shortage in construction [of settler units] during [President Barack] Obama's eight-year tenure."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel "would not abide by the terms" of the "shameful anti-Israel resolution," and has even summoned the ambassadors of the UN Security Council member states in protest at the move.

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has called for the development of Maale Adumim settlement, located just seven kilometers east of Jerusalem al-Quds, as well as the entire Area C of the West Bank, which is the largest division in the occupied territory as it comprises 60 percent of the land and is under full Israeli military control.

Bibi cancels Ukrainian PM's visit over UNSC vote

Meanwhile, Netanyahu has canceled a visit scheduled for next week by his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman, over Kiev’s support for the UN resolution to end settlements expansion activities in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The Security Council resolution 2334, passed with unanimous approval from 14 council members with the United States abstaining from voting, demanded Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem" al-Quds.

It states that the building of settlements by Israel has "no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law."

More than half a million 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.

The continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle to the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

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

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