News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Monday that Israel should freeze a plan to build 2,000 new housing units in Judea, Samaria, and Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.  The UN head referred to plans to build Jewish homes in Jerusalem as “settlement expansion... contrary to Israel’s obligations under the Road Map and to international law.”

Jordanian officials slammed the construction plans on Monday as well, while British officials described themselves as “concerned” and the plans as “unhelpful.”  The plans include the construction of 550 housing units in the Jerusalem suburb of Givat Zeev, 750 units in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev, 400 in nearby Neve Yaakov, and smaller projects in Har Homa, Efrat, Elkana, and elsewhere.