Jerusalem committee approves new Gilo housing

A Jerusalem building committee has approved the construction of 130 new apartments in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.

The construction must still be approved by the government’s Interior Ministry. It will be about three years before ground will be broken on the project, if approved at all levels.

The project received its first round of approvals in November 2010.

Building approvals in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem were sped up by the Israeli government in response to the Palestinians being accepted for membership in UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, in November of this year.