An Israeli planning committee on Wednesday approved plans to build 200 homes in a Jewish settlement neighborhood of annexed East Jerusalem, a city councilor told AFP.

East Jerusalem has been shaken by months of clashes and Israeli city councilor Yosef Pepe Alalu told AFP that plans to build in the Ramot neighborhood would cause further tensions.

“This is a new building plan and we are at the preliminary stage,” said Alalu of the leftwing Meretz party.

“It is a decision which is going to cause great harm.”

Lior Amihai, a spokesman for settlement watchdog Peace Now, also denounced the move.

“This is terrible — and in the middle of such a sensitive period,” he told AFP.

At the end of October, Israel announced it was moving ahead with plans to build more than 1,000 new settler homes in East Jerusalem.

Israel seized East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)