Just days after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas requested formal statehood for Palestine from the United Nations, Israel has given the go-ahead for 1,100 housing units to be built in occupied East Jerusalem, a move that has been condemned by the chief Palestinian negotiator and greeted with criticism from the European Union and the United States, with Hilary Clinton calling the decision "counterproductive."
According to Al Jazeera, the move is "raising already heightened tensions fuelled by last week's Palestinian move to seek full UN membership. Israel's interior ministry said on Tuesday that the homes would be built in Gilo, a Jewish enclave in southeast Jerusalem. It said construction could begin after a mandatory 60-day period for public comment, a process that is largely a formality."
