Israel has approved building permits for an additional 560 homes in three settlements in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday. The announcement came just 48 hours after Donald Trump took office as the 45th American president. RT reports: Israel Radio talked to the Chairman of Jerusalem city hall’s Planning and Building committee, Meir Turgeman, who said the permits had been in the works, but delayed until Barack Obama was out of office. “I was told to wait until Trump takes office because he has no problem with building in Jerusalem,” Turgeman told Israel Radio, adding that there were hundreds more units awaiting approval. Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesman Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters: “We strongly condemn the Israeli decision to approve the construction.” Obama – especially towards the end of his presidency – was critical of Israel’s settlement expansion on the grounds that it was destructive to regional peace and risked derailing a stable two-state solution. In his final weeks as president, he had to explain to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu why the US had withheld its traditional UN veto to block a new resolution condemning the illegal settlements. The American veto has protected Israel a great number of times [...]
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