Israel is planning to allocate funds to build over one thousand apartments in east Jerusalem and the West Bank as part of its 2008 budget, despite previous statements that it would not expand West Bank construction, Army Radio reported.
500 apartments are planned to be built in Har Homa and another 240 in Ma'aleh Adumim. This is in addition to the 340 Har Homa apartments announced earlier this month.
"No promise was ever given to anyone that we wouldn't continue to build in Har Homa, because it's within the municipal borders of Jerusalem," Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Rafi Eitan told Army Radio, calling both the neighborhood and Ma'aleh Adumim an integral part of Jerusalem.
The radio station quoted sources in the Ministry of Housing as saying Israel would wait for "a convenient timing, which will not raise a wave of international protest."
