The Times of Israel reports: The Jerusalem municipality reportedly called off a Wednesday discussion on issuing permits for hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem, a move that would have defied a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building and expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
According to Army Radio, the measure was pulled from the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee’s agenda at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
There was no immediate comment from the Jerusalem city hall over the shift, which came amid mounting global pressure on Israel to halt settlement expansion and ahead of a major speech later Wednesday by US Secretary of State John Kerry on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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