Thursday, April 24, 2025

Israel pushes on with construction plans on disputed East Jerusalem

The move may cause a confrontation with president-elect Joe Biden.

• November 15, 2020
Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Credit: CNN)
Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Credit: CNN)

Israel on Sunday advanced the planned construction of housing for Israelis in a highly sensitive area of East Jerusalem, an Israeli settlements watchdog said.

Israel’s housing ministry confirmed it, issued a tender for the construction of more than 1,200 housing units in an area known as Givat Hamatos, meaning contractors can now submit proposals.

Peace Now said that Israeli construction in Givat Hamatos would ‘severely hamper the prospect of a two-state solution’ to the conflict with the Palestinians because the Israeli neighbourhood would cut off East Jerusalem from Bethlehem.

The tender was first published in February, but since then 180 additional units have been added for a total of 1,257.

The final day for submitting the proposals is January 18, 2021, just days before the change of the U.S. administration.

The move may cause a confrontation with president-elect Joe Biden, a strong supporter of the two-state solution.

Outgoing President Donald Trump has been an unprecedented strong supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing policies.

Some 600,000 Israelis live in more than 200 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope to make the capital of their future state.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

Abubakar Kyari

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu

NationWide

FG lauds Ghana for rescuing 219 trafficked Nigerians

She urged the trafficked victims to consider themselves lucky to be rescued.

Bukola Saraki

NationWide

Insincere opposition leaders should leave PDP now; party will be repositioned: Saraki

“Our party members should not lose focus, hope, or the determination to win,” he said.

Bola Tinubu and World Bank

NationWide

More Nigerians to plunge into poverty under Tinubu’s watch: World Bank

According to the World Bank, Nigeria is home to the highest number of extremely poor people in the world.

States

2025: Niger assembly approves N151.7 billion LG budget

He said the House would strengthen its oversight functions to ensure proper budget implementation.

Omar Alieu Touray

Africa

ECOWAS solicits support for standby force following Bénin terrorist attack

About 54 soldiers were killed in the terrorist attack in northern Benin on April 17.

Folashade Ambrose

Lagos

Lagos tasks cooperative college governing council on entrepreneurship

The commissioner emphasised the importance of clarity of vision and objectives.