NGO: Jerusalem panel approves 4-story settler building after postponing vote on others
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A Jerusalem municipal panel approved on Wednesday construction of a four-story building for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem after postponing a vote on permits for hundreds of other homes in the Israeli-annexed area, an NGO said.
Ir Amim, which opposes Israeli settlement in territory where Palestinians seek to establish a state, said the structure would be erected on a vacant plot in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood where settlers have been expanding an enclave.
"Today, while attention has been focused on the removal of ... building permits ... the committee proceeded to approve a controversial project in one of the most flammable neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem," Ir Amim said in a statement shortly before US Secretary of State John Kerry was to make a policy speech on Israeli-Palestinian peace.
