UN Chief Deplores Israel's Decision to Expand Settlement in East Jerusalem (VIDEO)

The status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

(JERUSALEM) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Tuesday deplored Israel's decision to expand Gilo settlement, built on Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, a statement issued by his spokesperson said.

Reiterating his opposition that "settlements are illegal," Ban called on Israel to respect its commitments under the Road Map to cease all settlement activity, including natural growth.

The secretary-general "believes that such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-State solution," the statement said.

Early on Tuesday, the Jerusalem municipal planning committee approved the "Gilo's western slopes" construction plan, under which 900 housing units will be built in the form of 4-5 bedroom apartments, in an effort to lure more Israelis to reside.

The approval comes in the wake of a demand from the United States on Israel to totally freeze its settlement construction activities in the West Bank as well as in east Jerusalem.

The United States voiced on Tuesday its objection, saying it was "dismayed" over Israel's approval to expand Jewish settlement construction in Jerusalem.

Gilo, with a population of 40,000, is included within Jerusalem municipal boundaries demarcated by the Israeli government. Israel claims that Gilo is one of Jerusalem's neighborhoods, while the United Nations and the Palestinians say that Gilo is a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem.

The status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem has not been internationally recognized, and the Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Israeli's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that his government will not halt construction in Jerusalem, while the Palestinians insists that the long-stalled peace talks would not be resumed until the Israeli government totally freezes the Jewish settlement construction.

Al Jazeera correspondent Jacky Rowland is in Sheikh Jarrah where Israeli police dismantled a tent set up by a Palestinian family already evicted by Israeli orders in August:

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Winder November 18, 2009 12:04 am (Pacific time)

The UN has no teeth. Not only should expansion, construction and evictions of Palestinian peoples cease, but the Israeli interlopers should be compelled to give back what they have stolen. They should be sanctioned by the UN, the US and the rest of the world. What they are doing is UNholy in the Holy Land.

Osotan; November 17, 2009 8:33 pm (Pacific time)

The state dept. may have already red flagged this article for "gross bias" against israel.,they got over 200 nukes god damn it!,what's a few more acres of stolen Palestinian land? Does the UN hate israel or what? How can they question a nuclear armed opponant?,Mr. Moon.,tread lightly,it's israel's right to do what they want, get out of the way.,it's "unseemly" to challenge the chosen.Did you read that the Old Testament was translated from the original Aramaic,Hebrew,Parsi,Hindi, Greek,and Latin by Shakespear and cronies at the behest of James,king of Enland, to recruit the masses into shifting the spiritual base of Christiandom from Rome to Britain,a.k.a. "the reformation"? I think they took some political liberties with these sacred manuscripts, but I only know what I read. How about they start sending back the ten million a day the US gives them?,I hear Egypt gets five million,the Suez stays open,and Palestine gets stolen in front of our faces and we are supposed to look the other way. Would I be branded anti-semetic if I said Natanyahu is a ..,government sponsored gansgter with his own real estate corporation?.,or was that Olmert the last? Does this piss off anyone else but the Palestinians? What's Ban Ki Moon's critisizm mean anyway?

Osotan; November 18, 2009 1:39 am (Pacific time)

Frances, how can you say that? Just because they have over 200 nuclear warheads and confiscate and resettle Palestinian land before our eyes and disallow Palestinian right of return as well doesn't make them the aggressor. I mean if the Palestinians would just go away then the isreali's wouldn't need $10,000,000 dollars a day from the U.S. to defend themselves against the people they stole the land from.,now do you see?, without this lobby industry they might have to make their own way, which would make controlling the oil producing regions harder and more expensive for the U S buisness interests without israel maintaining order. Just take a prozac, turn on mur/fox entertainment, think of it as israel maintaining order and you'll get over this "aggressor" mindset.

Frances November 17, 2009 11:36 pm (Pacific time)

Israel is an aggressor here. And Israel has too many lobbyists in Washington and too much control there over "our" representatives.

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