Egypt rejects Israeli settlement expansion

CAIRO - Egypt formally informed Israel on Wednesday its rejection of Tel Aviv's decision to build about 2,600 new settlement units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, official news agency MENA reported.

Egypt's rejection has been formally sent by Aladdin Youssef, head of Israeli affairs department at Egypt's Foreign Ministry, to Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Yaakov Amitai, highlighting "the obvious contradiction between the Israeli settlement practices and the 'land for peace' principle which represents a basis for peacemaking efforts in the region," MENA said.

The Foreign Ministry further stated that the Israeli settlement expansion stands in the way of the efforts to revive the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and violates the rulings of international laws regulating the legal status of Palestinian occupied territories.

The Jerusalem Planning and Construction municipal committee authorized earlier Wednesday the construction of 2,610 new homes for a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem, which means a new Jewish neighborhood would be erected beyond the 1967 lines in Jerusalem.