TEL AVIV, June 3: Israel began work on a new Jewish settlement in occupied Al Quds on Monday.

An Israeli contractor began drawing a fence around an area of some 10 hectares in the Arab neighbourhood of Jabel Mukhaber, where the Jewish compound, to be called Nof Zahav (Golden View), will be built.

It will contain several hundred apartments, a luxury hotel and a cable car.

According to the contractor, the project is legal and has received all necessary permits from the municipality.

However, the Israeli radio quoted Palestinian residents of Jabel Mukhaber as saying that when they requested permits to build on it, the municipality told them it was designated a “green area” where construction was not allowed.

Mahmoud Abed Daat, a member of one of the families that claims the land, a ravine containing olive groves with Palestinian homes on either side, said the residents have documents proving the land belongs to them.

“Many people here have documents dating back to Jordanian, British and Turkish rule,” he said.

Palestinian residents of Al Quds say it is virtually impossible for them to get building permits from the municipality, which hands them out to Jewish building projects for political reasons.

SHAS PARTY: The Israeli parliament on Monday approved the return of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party to the government, two weeks after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sacked the party’s ministers in a budget dispute.