by Thomas Manning

The Israeli municipality which is the countries panel on approving settlements has approved a new development in the Har Homa and Pisgat Zeev regions of Israeli territory near the disputed city of Jerusalem. Under this new development plan which was requested by private contractors, 184 new homes would be built in two Jewish settlements which would be built near the city of Jerusalem, a city that is at the heart of the trouble between Palestinians and the country of Israel.

The proposal would have 144 new homes built in the Har Homa region and an additional 40 homes to be built in Pisgat Zeev. “It has become evident that Israel has done everything possible to destroy the ongoing negotiations and to provoke violence and extremism in throughout the region” Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestine Liberation organization member said in a statement on Wednesday regarding the approval of the new settlements.

Israel won the region of the West Bank during the 1967 Middle Eastern war along with acquiring the Gaza Strip. Many countries view the takeover of territory in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as illegal and do not recognize them as Israeli territory.

Negotiations between the two sides resumed in July but did not produce any results and this approval of the new settlements would most likely not help as the two sides have been at war over the West Bank and Jerusalem since the creation of Israel and the 1967 Middle Eastern war. Under the current territory arrangement, 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while the two territories are home to 2.8 million Palestinians. One thing is clear, few among both Israelis and Palestinians are convinced that peace in the cards.