JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the marketing of nearly 500 housing units in Jewish communities located in eastern Jerusalem.
Some 436 of the apartments are located in Ramat Shlomo, and at least 18 others are in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot.
The plans for Ramat Shlomo were first announced during a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to Israel in 2010, and led to a diplomatic crisis. The plans for the housing units were approved more than a year ago but had been frozen by Netanyahu out of fear of international condemnation.
Plans to build about 1,000 more housing units in Ramat Shlomo could soon follow, according to reports.
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