Israel announces construction plans in jerusalem, west bank

Israel's Construction and Housing Ministry announced Sunday plans to build 1,000 new homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Ariel Rosenberg, a spokesman and media adviser for the ministry, told CNN the tender for the new housing units in Jerusalem and the West Bank was published following an earlier government decision in November to speed up construction, and was part of what he described as "an answer to the Palestinian unilateral moves at the U.N."

The Israeli government announced November 1 it was expediting construction of 2,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and suspending the transfer of Palestinian tax revenue in wake of the Palestinian Authority's successful membership bid at UNESCO, the U.N. cultural, science, and education agency.

The tender published Sunday includes a plan to build 180 new homes in the north Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Zeev and 500 homes in the Southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, both built outside the 1967 borders. An additional 348 new units are planned for the West Bank settlement of Beitar Ilit.

Source: CNN