Islam Times - 25 percent of new Jerusalem homes built in occupied east

Islam Times - About 25 percent of new Israeli houses being built in Jerusalem in the first half of 2014 were in the city's annexed east, an Israeli NGO said on Sunday.

Jerusalem city council published a statement saying that between January 1 and June 30 work began on 2,100 homes in the city.

It did not say where construction was taking place, in line with Israel's definition of the whole city as in integral and indivisible part of the state.

But Hagit Ofran, of settlement watchdog Peace Now, told AFP in response to a query that about a quarter of the new homes were in settlements in the Palestinian areas occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The occupied east of the city was later annexed in a move never recognized by the international community.

"We're talking about approximately 500" homes, Ofran said, adding that the figures were broadly in line with recent years.

Figures provided by the municipality say there are about 306,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, whose civil status is that of residents, not citizens. They account for 38 percent of the city's overall population.

Over 75 percent of Palestinians, and 82 percent of children, live below the poverty line in East Jerusalem, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Only 14 percent of East Jerusalem is zoned for Palestinian residential construction, ACRI says, while one-third of Palestinian land has been confiscated since 1967 to build illegal Jewish-only settlements.

Some 200,000 Israeli settlers also live in East Jerusalem.