by Joshua Lapide

The plan was approved in 2010, leading to a clash with the US administration. The new settlement of Ramat Shlomo makes peace and the two states solution increasingly difficult. The green light given to new settlements just hours after the launch of Benjamin Netanyahu’ so-called "government of the settlers".

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - Israel has given the green light to build 900 homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem, a few hours after the launch of the new government of Benjamin Netanyahu, who has allied himself with the right wing, supported by settlers and staunch opposes of a Palestinian state.

The 900 houses will be built in Ramat Shlomo, already inhabited by ultra-Orthodox Jews. The plan to build 1,600 homes in the area had already been announced in 2010, during a visit to Israel of US Vice President Joe Biden, leading to a quasi-diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

The approval by the Jerusalem urban planning Committee came in November 2013, but construction was stopped due to the lack of infrastructure. Yesterday, the committee has given permission to start building 900 homes without the completion of necessary roads.

Yesterday, the US State Department spokesperson, Jeff Rathke, said that the decision to implement the plan of the new settlement is "unpleasant" and "worrying". "Building in East Jerusalem - he added - is contrary to and harms the commitment to a two-state solution."

The peace talks between Israel and Palestine, despite ups and downs, have always moved on the idea of ​​establishing two states, with East Jerusalem as capital of a future Palestinian state. The increase of Jewish settlements in this area makes it impossible to form a homogeneous area between Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.

The decision to move forward with construction in East Jerusalem came just hours after the formation of the government by Benjamin Netanyahu with Naftali Bennet ‘s party "the Jewish house" (HaBayit Hayehudi), backed by fundamentalist settlers, ultra-Orthodox Jews and opposes to the existence of a Palestinian state.

For the Palestinians, this government is a "government of the settlers." According to international law, the seizure of land by an occupying power - as Israel is currently doing in the Palestinian territories - is considered illegal.

• ISRAEL
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• PALESTINE
• settlers
• government
• right
• wing
• peace
• palestinian
• state