We’re taking advantage of the upcoming government change in the US to push projects forward that had been stalled, said the Head of the Municipal Council for Planning and Building, Vice-Mayor Meir Turgeman.

Another source added that “The Prime Minister’s silence on this matter is a green light as far as we’re concerned.”

Israel will use every opportunity to expand the breadth of their illegal colonies on Palestinian land, and the US election season is no exception. Jerusalem Online picked up the story too reporting “Jerusalem construction accelerated due to US elections“. The articles claim officials from the Jerusalem Municipality told Channel 2 News that plans to build 57 new housing units over the green line in the occupied East Jerusalem colony of Ramot had been fast-tracked because of U.S. election season and “the accelerated process is not a coincidence”.

Last year when the national planning committee (VATMAL) approved a huge expansion of Ramot (1,638 housing units on 10 acres) environmentalists slammed the plan saying it would threaten the environment. Even Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barak said it would “bring serious harm to the city.” And this May the Municipality’s chief engineer, Shlomo Eshkol, decried the program for not “following the guidelines of the city’s urban renewal plan“.