Israel approves plans to build 1,200 new settler units in Gilo - Netanyahu ‘I don't care what the UN says!’

Press TV: The apartheid Israeli regime has approved plans to construct 1,200 settler units in the settlement of Gilo in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), despite the growing international condemnation of the move.

An Israeli planning and building committee on Monday decided to proceed with its plans to build 1,200 illegal settler units in Gilo.
Gilo is among five major settlements in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) that were developed by Israel following its Six-Day War of 1967, which brought the Gaza Strip, East al-Quds, and the West Bank under Tel Aviv’s occupation.

The plan to expand the Gilo settlement came amid rising condemnation by the international community over Tel Aviv’s plans to construct as many as 6,500 more settler units on the occupied Palestinian territories.

This includes the regime’s plan to build 2,610 settler units in the settlement of Givat Hamatos, a village located in the south of al-Quds. They also approved the construction of 1,500 settler units in the settlement of Ramat Shlomo, located in the north of East al-Quds.

The plans sparked widespread international condemnation. The member states of the UN Security Council, except the United States, condemned Israel’s plan on December 19, and called for an immediate halt to the settlement plans.

On the same day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that building more settlements on the occupied territories could be “an almost fatal blow” to future talks between Israelis and the Palestinian Authority.

The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, also issued a statement on December 20, condemning Israel’s plans to build more settler units.

Israeli plans were announced after the 193-member UN General Assembly voted 138-9 with 41 abstentions on November 29 to upgrade Palestine’s status at the UN from non-member observer entity to non-member observer state.

The Israeli settlements are considered illegal by the UN and most countries because of their construction on occupied territory, and are thus seen as being subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied territories.

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‘I don't care what the UN says!’ Netanyahu vows to continue illegal settlement activity

RT: The Israeli prime minister has vowed to continue building settlements in the “Israeli capital of Jerusalem,” defying near-unanimous international criticism of the illegal activity in retaliation for Palestine's upgraded UN status.
­In an interview with Israeli Channel 2, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threw internationally-recognized boundaries to the wind, saying that the Western Wall, which lies in a part of UN-administered Jerusalem occupied by Israel in 1967, “is not occupied territory” – and that he “does not care” what the United Nations has to say about it.
Netanyahu added that all Israeli citizens live “in the Jewish state,” and that “the capital of the Jewish state, for 3,000 years, has been Jerusalem,” as cited by the Jerusalem Post.
He went on to defend the planned construction of settlements near Jerusalem – in Gilo, formerly West Bank land occupied by Israel in 1967, and Ramat Shlomo, which was taken from Jordan the same year. “What future awaits Israel if we cannot build in Gilo and Ramat Shlomo?” he said.
Both of the planned construction sites are situated within the Israeli-drawn boundaries of Jerusalem, but outside the “green line” segregating Israel from the West Bank.
The schemes to build there, in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, and in the Ethiopian Jewish community Givat HaMatos have brought international criticism and condemnation of the Israeli administration.
“So we, the state of the Jews, cannot build in our capital? I don't accept that,” Netanyahu said during the interview, as reported by AAP.
The prime minister also pointed to the fact that the expedited construction plans are retaliation for the Palestinians' upgraded status at the United Nations.
In November, the UN General Assembly awarded Palestine non-member observer state status. With this move, Netanyahu says, the Palestinians “simply tore to pieces all the agreements with us,” recalling that he had warned that Israel would not react by “sitting with its arms folded.”
Regardless of Israel's claims to Jerusalem as its capital, the international community recognizes Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel, with no country having an embassy in Jerusalem. At the same time, Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. 
The Israeli prime minister has repeatedly accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of obstructing peace talks. Abbas has refused to negotiate unless Netanyahu and his government adhere to certain preconditions, among which is falling in line with international law by way of a settlement freeze.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Reuters/Gali Tibbon/Pool)

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