Jerusalem's Planning and Construction Committee last week approved a plan to build three new Jewish neighborhoods that officials say will create contiguity between the capital and large nearby blocs of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
Committee chairman and Deputy Mayor Yehoshua Pollak told Ha'aretz that the plan is intended to connect Jerusalem to Beit El north of the city and the Etzion Bloc of communities to the south.
All three neighborhoods are to be built on land annexed by Israel following the 1967 Six Day War, meaning that as the plan moves through additional municipal and national committees, it is certain to become a source of international controversy.
The Palestinian Arabs claim the eastern half of Jerusalem, which Israel liberated from Jordanian occupation in 1967, as the capital of the state the hope to create in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.