Israel advances 3 major illegal settlement projects in East Jerusalem in weeks: Rights group

The Israeli government has advanced three major illegal settlement projects in East Jerusalem within a few weeks, involving more than 3,400 units, in an effort to strengthen Israeli control over the occupied city, an Israeli rights group said Monday. Ir Amim, an Israeli organization focused on East Jerusalem, said in a statement that Israeli authorities had advanced the three projects, less than three months before legislative elections scheduled for Oct. 27. The organization said the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee last month deposited a plan for a new illegal settlement of about 650 housing units in the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Tuba. The committee also approved two other plans: one for a new illegal settlement of about 450 housing […]