JERUSALEM, April 4, 2011 (WAFA)- The Planning and Building Committee in Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem Monday approved the construction of 942 new housing units in the settlement of Gilo, south of Jerusalem.

The committee approved the Gilo plan expansion at the district level in 2009. According to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper, the construction of the 942 settlement housing units will be on the eastern side of the neighborhood near Bethlehem.

Nevertheless, the committee is about to discuss the expansion of three other settlements in Jerusalem: Ramat Shlomo, Har Homa and Pisgat Zeev, said the newspaper.

As part of the plan, Gilo will be expanded eastward and southward to the end of the Israeli municipality lines of West Jerusalem.

Israeli officials encouraged the settlement expansion said that Israel’s leaders should increase settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem.

Gilo was constructed in 1987, located on a hilltop in southeast Jerusalem with Bethlehem in the south. The land Gilo is built on belonged to Palestinians Beit Jala and Beit Safafa.

The approval took place while Israeli President Shimon Peres is getting ready to meet United States President Barack Obama in Washington. The US strongly opposes Israeli settlement construction in the Palestinian territory fearing it will derail US efforts to get Palestinian-Israeli negotiations back on track.

Y.Y./M.A.