Interior Minister Eli Yishai authorized the construction of thousands of new housing units in Jerusalem, half of which are to be built beyond the Green Line, Ynet has learned Thursday.
Yishai has reportedly green-lighted the construction of 1,600 housing units in the northeastern neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo alone.
Another plan will see 700 new housing units built in the adjacent neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev.
A third, 2,000-unit project is planned for Givat HaMatos, which is also beyond the Green Line.
Sources in the Interior Ministry said that Yishai views the projects as one of the solutions to Jerusalem’s housing plight, adding that the recent induction of the National Housing Committees’ Law, has allowed for the projects’ authorization process to be accelerated.
A similar, 7,000-housing units project has been approved in the Haifa district as well.
Yishai’s move follows a recent decision by the Jerusalem Zoning Commission, to build 930 housing units in the southeast neighborhood of Har Homa.
Both the US and the EU denounced the decision: The State Department said it was “deeply concerned” by the move and urged Israel to avoid “unilateral moves which would hinder the peace process”; while EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said she was “deeply disappointed” by the decision.
Catherine Ashton would be better off worrying about her own mess of a country.
Tell Catherine Ashton to give Gibralter back to the Spanish and Ireland back to the Irish and to mind her business.