Israeli authorities has given final approval to the construction of 380 new illegal settler homes in two areas of occupied East Jerusalem, a local official said.
"The municipal commission has given construction permits for 307 homes in Ramot and 73 in Har Homa," Yosef Pepe Alalu, a Jerusalem city councilor with the opposition Meretz party, told the AFP news agency on Wednesday.

Haaretz newspaper reported that final building permits can now be issued and once that has been done, construction may begin.
The collapse of US-brokered peace talks, Israel's war last summer in the Gaza Strip, and continued Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem have added to the distrust between Israel and Palestine.

About 200,000 Jewish Israelis live in settlement areas like Ramot that ring East Jerusalem to help cement Israeli control.

Settlement building in the territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War is considered illegal under international law, and the issue remains one of the most divisive in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

PHOTO CAPTION

A medic tends to a journalist lying on the ground after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops during a demonstration against the Israeli settlements and demanding for free movement for the Palestinians near a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Bethlehem December 23, 2014.

Al-Jazeera