United Nations, October 29 (RHC)-- The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is holding an emergency meeting on Israel's plans to build more illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The meeting of the 15-member council, scheduled to be held on Wednesday, was requested by Jordan following a letter from Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour. Mansour stressed the need to "address this crisis situation in occupied East Jerusalem."

The request came a day after Israel announced plans to build 1,060 new settler units in East Jerusalem. The Palestinian envoy urged the council to put pressure on Israel to immediately cancel its construction plans and "commit to the path of peace that it has clearly and recklessly abandoned."

President of the Palestinian National Unity Government Mahmoud Abbas also submitted a request for an emergency UNSC session, calling for international efforts to help stop Israeli violations in East Jerusalem as well as assaults by Israeli settlers on the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli media reports have said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to endorse a new project that includes the construction of 2,000 settler units, 12 new roads as well as several other facilities in the occupied West Bank.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1967.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a 1967 war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.