JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel's housing ministry said on Thursday it had dropped plans to construct a new Jewish settlement in occupied east Jerusalem, just a day after announcing the controversial move was being mulled.
Housing Minister Zeev Boim had said on Wednesday that a feasibility check was underway for the construction of a new settlement in the Atarot area in northern Jerusalem, drawing strong condemnation from the Palestinians.
But on Thursday, his ministry announced it had axed the plan to build more than 10,000 flats in Atarot -- which would have made it the largest settlement in east Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to set up the capital of their promised future state.
"We have decided to drop the plans for construction in Atarot," a housing ministry spokesman told AFP.
Israel captured and annexed Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later declared the holy city its "eternal, undivided" capital -- moves not recognised by the international community which considers settlements in occupied land illegal.
Atarot lies some five kilometres (three miles) north of the Green Line between the Palestinian villages of Ram and Bir Nabala.
Although it is within the Jerusalem municipal boundaries established by Israel, the Palestinians consider the area part of the occupied West Bank.
Two weeks ago, Israel invited bids for more than 300 new housing units in another settlement of occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, known as Har Homa to Israelis and as Jebel Abu Ghneim to Palestinians.
The expansion came a week after Israelis and Palestinians revived peace talks at a conference in the US city of Annapolis and sparked criticism from the Palestinians, the European Union and the United States.
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