…in spite of Obama administration objections.
Above and beyond the slap in the face Netanyahu issued to Biden during his trip to Israel and to Obama just before his meeting at the White House, what was already taking place on the ground in East Jerusalem far outdistanced the offending development plans.
Al Jezeera reported about the East Jerusalem building boom on March 11, 2010:
According to the text,
Israel has been expanding illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land for decade, and it is now emerging just how far-reaching this policy is.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the Jerusalem housing committee is planning to build another 50,000 Jewish homes in occupied East Jerusalem to join the hundreds of thousands already there or in progress.
That includes 3,000 housing units in Gilo, 1,500 apartments in Har Homa and another 1,500 in the settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev.
Thousands more have been planned at Givat Hamatos, and the settlement of Ramot, while hundreds more are in the works in Armon Hanetziv, as well as Neveh Yaakov.
Hillary Clinton earlier claimed that this building in East Jerusalem is “unhelpful” and later gave an earful to Netanyahu, apparently to no avail. In accordance with Netanyahu’s AIPAC speech, building in the capital of Israel, in this case East Jerusalem, will continue, and it has.