Israel Issues Tenders for 1,048 New Settler Homes

Israel on Wednesday issued tenders to build another 1,048 settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, housing ministry spokesman Ariel Rosenberg told AFP.

Rosenberg said an unspecified number of homes would go up in the east Jerusalem settlement suburb of Har Homa, but construction would be "mainly in Beitar, Karnei Shomron, Givat Zeev and Efrat," in the West Bank.

Earlier on Wednesday an Israeli planning committee gave final approval for plans to build 2,610 new homes in Givat HaMatos, a settlement suburb of annexed east Jerusalem, an Israeli monitoring group told AFP, in what rights groups say will be the city's first new settlement neighborhood in 15 years.

Earlier this week, Israel approved construction of another 1,500 homes in Ramat Shlomo, another settlement district of east Jerusalem.

So far this week, Israel has pushed through plans for 5,158 new settler homes, more than 80 percent of them -- at least 4,110 units -- in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as a capital for their future state.