Construction contracts for 300 homes in the northeastern settlement of Ramot were signed, and another 797 land plots in the much larger settlement of Gilo in Al-Quds were listed for sale.
Danny Seidemann, a director of the Al-Quds settlement watchdog group ‘Terrestrial Jerusalem’, told AFP that the building was quietly ordered last year by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The housing project is certain to draw the ire of the international community, which cites international law nullifying Israel’s domain over the region, which the country annexed after the 1967 Six-Day war.
Netanyahu has reportedly pushed the project under the carpet temporarily so as not to impact US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to bridge peace talks between Israel and Palestine.
The news of the land purchases is said to have been leaked by Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel.
The leak coincides with news that Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes in Beit Hanina, in East Al-Quds. The destruction was closed off to media and pedestrians but Badran al-Salameh, who owns the homes, told the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency he was not given prior notice of the demolition.
The incident in question came as a result of the Salameh family reportedly lacking Israeli building permits, a justification Tel Aviv has used to forcefully displace over 1,630 non-Jewish families since 1967.
Palestinian leaders have demanded a halt to Israeli settlement construction before the continuation of so-called peace talks, which have remained stagnant for nearly three years.