Despite mounting pressure, “Israel” ups settlements
Despite mounting international pressure on Tel Aviv, Israel has accelerated settlement activity in East Al Quds (Jerusalem) in the first half of 2009.
An "Israeli" activist group, Ir Amim, says that from January through June, about 150 additional housing units have been under construction in the annexed part of Al Quds (Jerusalem).
This is while the international community including the United States has been calling on "Israel" to halt the illegal settlement expansion, a move deemed as a prerequisite to the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.
Hawkish "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly maintained that his government has not made any decision to stop settlement activity in the West Bank.
Last week, in a meeting with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Netanyahu claimed that settlement expansions were 'very different from grabbing land."
He argued that the construction was necessary because hundreds of thousands of Jews who settled down in the West bank now need more educational and housing space.
"Israel's" illegal settlement activity, which is in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 446, 452 and 465, has also caused complication in Tel Aviv's relations with Washington.
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