Netanyahu has dismissed the UN Security Council resolution calling on Israel to halt illegal settlements in the West Bank [Xinhua]
Just two days after former President Barack Obama left the White House, the Jerusalem Municipality approved building permits for some 560 housing units in East Jerusalem.
The decision on Sunday comes less than a month after the Jerusalem District Zoning Committee cancelled new settlements licensing at the request of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of a diplomatic spat with the Obama administration at the time.
According to Israeli media quoting Deputy Jerusalem Mayor Meir Turgeman, the licensing was delayed until Obama left the White House.
In the last month of his presidency, Obama has been highly critical of Israel’s settlements policy and Netanyahu’s right-wing government.
In December, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which passed with 14 votes in favor and an abstention by the United States, said Israel’s illegal settlements undermined the two-state solution for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.
The resolution condemned “all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions”.
But Netanyahu’s government has decried the resolution and called it “toothless”.
“We remain unfazed by the UN vote, or by any other entity that tries to dictate what we do in Jerusalem,” Turgeman had said earlier.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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