The Israeli regime is set to spend millions of dollars on construction activities in an illegal settlement in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), an Israeli local council says.
The Jerusalem City Council made the announcement on Wednesday about construction projects in the illegal settlement of Har Homa, located on a hill originally called Jabal Abu Ghneim.
The council said 50 million shekels (USD 12.5 million, 10.2 million euros) would be spent over the projects, which include a park, children's playgrounds, green spaces, and new street lighting.
The construction work will begin "in the near future," said the council.
Israel started illegal constructions on Jabal Abu Ghneim, in southern East al-Quds, in 1997, triggering protests at the time.
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were occupied by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
