UPDATE - Israel PM greenlights 2,500 new Jerusalem housing units

UPDATES WITH TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved construction of 2,500 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank, according to a statement issued by his office Tuesday.

“We are building and will continue to build,” Netanyahu said in the statement.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that most new housing units would be built in pre-existing settlement blocs in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“At least 100 of the new housing units will be built in the Beit El settlement near Ramallah,” Haaretz said.

The newspaper went on to note that Netanyahu had already told the Ministerial Committee on National Security Affairs of his decision to lift all restrictions on settlement-building in East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu’s approval of new housing units built on occupied Arab land is the second of its kind since Donald Trump assumed the U.S. presidency.

On Sunday, Jerusalem’s municipality approved construction of 566 new settlement units in East Jerusalem.

Turkey strongly condemned the decision and urged an immediate halt to “illegal settlements” on Palestinian soil.

“We call on Israel to quit insisting on pursuing this problematic approach that destroys the vision for the two-state solution by disregarding international law and human rights,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.