News broke Wednesday of a plan backed by both Israel's Housing Ministry and the Jerusalem Municipality to build a new Jewish neighborhood on the northeastern side of the capital.

Plans for the neighborhood envision 10,000-15,000 housing units.

While the area lies on the side of Jerusalem the Palestinian Arabs claim the right to sovereignty over, nearly all of the land on which the neighborhood would be built was owned by Jews prior to Jordan's illegal conquest and annexation of eastern Jerusalem in 1948.

A Jewish communal farm sat at the site before being destroyed by advancing Jordanian forces during Israel's War of Independence.

News of the planned neighborhood, which would be the largest Jewish neighborhood on the eastern side of Jerusalem, comes at a time of fierce international condemnation of Israel's decision to add a mere 300 apartments to the already-established Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa.