The Israel Broadcasting Corporation says the Jerusalem municipality has approved a plan to build a new settlement neighborhood, part of which will be built on Palestinian land.
The Authority said on Wednesday evening that the location of this new neighborhood will be south of Jerusalem between the settlement of "Har Homa Jabal Abu Ghneim" and the settlement of "Givat Hamatos" near Beit Safafa, and will include 1200,<> housing units.
The commission added that part of Jerusalem's new settlement neighborhood would cut off its geographical contiguity with Bethlehem.
This comes as most delegates to the UN Security Council on Wednesday criticized Israel for raising the level of violence and expanding settlements in the West Bank.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, expressed deep concern about settlement expansion in the West Bank and the construction of new housing units in existing settlements.
Several delegates from council member states, including Britain, France, Russia and China, also denounced the violence and the repeal of provisions in the 2005 disengagement law.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Washington was concerned about continued violence in Israel and the West Bank.
Greenfield said Washington was troubled by what it called an escalation of violent attacks by Palestinians against Israelis and violent attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Accountability and justice should be pursued with the same force and resources in all cases of extremist violence, she said, noting that the United States continues to believe that a two-state solution remains the best way to ensure that Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace and security.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, director general of the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem, called on the Israeli side to be wise to prevent any provocations against worshippers and worshippers at the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan.
In an interview with Anatolia, Sheikh al-Khatib predicted that hundreds of thousands of worshippers would reach Al-Aqsa within Ramadan if Israel allowed them to come from the West Bank, pointing out that Jerusalemites decorated the city to receive its guests.
Right-wing Israeli groups have called for large-scale raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Passover period, which coincides with the beginning of the second half of Ramadan.
Israeli provocations during the Ramadan could lead to an explosion of the situation in the city of Jerusalem, and may spread to the rest of the Palestinian territories, as happened in previous years.
The Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem is affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf, as Jordan is the custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem, in accordance with an agreement signed with Israel in 1994.