Jordan blasts Israeli plan to build 900 new settlement units

Amman - Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh on Tuesday condemned as 'a flagrant challenge' to the world community an Israeli plan to build 900 new settlement units in East Jerusalem, which the Jewish state captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war.

Judeh made the remark during a meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

'The minister expressed Jordan's strong condemnation and categorical rejection of the Israeli government's ratification of a plan to build new 900 settlement units in East Jerusalem,' the statement said.

Judeh labeled the Israeli step as 'a new flagrant challenge to the will of the world community, UN resolutions and international law besides harming peace and stability in the region.'

Israeli officials said that the new homes would be built in Gilo, which lies in territory seized and annexed by the Jewish state. The United Nations still consider East Jerusalem an occupied territory.

Judeh urged the world community 'to take a firm attitude that forces Israel to stop all its provocations in East Jerusalem as well as its encroachments on holy places and to respect its obligations under international law as an occupation force.'

Jordan concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, under which it recognized Amman's right to look after the Islamic and Christian holy shrines in Jerusalem.