Tel Aviv, March 5 (RHC)-- Israeli officials have approved plans for the construction of thousands of new settler units in East Jerusalem in grave contravention of international law and a United Nations Security Council resolution against the Tel Aviv regime’s land expropriation and settlement expansion policies in occupied Palestinian lands.

The so-called Local Committee for Planning and Construction in the Jerusalem Municipality has agreed to building 3,000 new housing units at the Gilo settlement, Israeli media reports.  “The planned settlement units will be built on an area of approximately 280 dunams [around 252 square kilometers],” the outlets added.

Less than a month before U.S. President Donald Trump took office, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2334, calling on Israel to “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.”  About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

There have been regular anti-U.S. protests by Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since December 6, when Donald Trump declared that Washington recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and was moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the Holy City.  Many say Trump's move has effectively killed any chances of further negotiations.