Israel freezes plan for East Jerusalem settlement project
The decision to delay the approval of a new settlement followed a phone call between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
An Israeli state planning commission on Monday halted plans for a controversial settlement project in East Jerusalem, amid pressure from the Biden administration and activists who blasted the housing plan as an obstacle to peace.
The Israeli government had backed a plan to build more than 9,000 new houses at Atarot, a proposed settlement located near the site of the abandoned airport and the Palestinian town of Qalandia.
In a short statement on Monday, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee said that the Ministry of Environmental Protection would need to conduct an environmental impact survey before settlement plans could be greenlit. That process is expected to take about a year.
Israeli media reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his concerns over the housing plan during a phone call with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last week.
