Israel planning first Jerusalem border expansion into West Bank since 1967: NGOs

Israeli NGOs have raised the alarm over a settlement plan signed by the government which they say would mark the first expansion of Jerusalem’s borders into the occupied West Bank since 1967.Israel has occupied Jerusalem" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="3077" data-entity-type="location">East Jerusalem since 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.Palestinians view Jerusalem" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="3077" data-entity-type="location">East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.The proposal was published in early this month as international outrage mounts over creeping measures aimed at strengthening Israeli control over the West Bank, which critics say amount to de facto annexation of the Palestinian territory.The Israeli settlement of Pisgat Zeev (left), built in a suburb of the mostly Arab Jerusalem" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="3077" data-entity-type="location">East Jerusalem, is seen behind Israel’s separation barrier on Monday. Photo: AFPThe planned development, announced by Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing, is formally a westward expansion of the Geva Binyamin, or Adam, settlement situated northeast of Jerusalem in the West Bank.