Netanyahu revives frozen plan for 3,000 new settler homes near E. Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he was reviving a plan for the construction of some 3,000 new settler homes near East Jerusalem. The project has been effectively frozen after international opposition.

Netanyahu has pledged to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the area’s Jordan Valley as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan presented by US President Donald Trump last month, Reuters said. Palestinians have rejected Trump’s plan.

Israel’s Defense Minister called in January for Israel to establish sovereignty over nearly a third of the occupied West Bank, acting on Trump’s announcement of the peace plan.