Israel has announced plans to build 40,000 homes in Jerusalem over the next ten years, with at least 2,000 of them in East Jerusalem. The plans were approved on June 15 by the Israeli Interior Ministry’s Building and Planning Committee.
Currently, there are over 245,000 Palestinians and 200,000 Israelis living in East Jerusalem. Israel, created in 1948 on Palestinian land, expanded its occupation into East Jerusalem in 1967. Israel has continued to build Jewish-only settlements while bulldozing tens of thousands of Palestinian’s homes, leaving many families with nowhere to go.
The announcement came just a week after Israel made public plans to build 1,300 settler homes in East Jerusalem. The new homes will further strengthen the Israeli occupation. The news has sparked major opposition and outrage among Palestinians and their supporters.
