ISRAEL is set to advance plans for 9,000 houses in an illegal settlement occupied East Jerusalem, it was reported today.

The new houses would be built on the site of the abandoned Qalandiya airport in East Jerusalem in what would be the latest action by Israel to cut off Palestinian lands from each other and to block any possibility of a non-disjointed future Palestinian state.

The so-called Atarot neighbourhood in northern East Jerusalem was set to be considered yesterday by the District Planning and Building Committee, according to Israel group Peace Now.

Peace Now says the new settlement was set to be developed in a densely populated Palestinian urban area, stretching from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Kafr Aqab in the north through the Qalandiya refugee camp, ar-Ram, Beit Hanina and Bir Nabala.

Peace Now said: “This is a destructive plan that, if implemented, would prevent any possibility of connecting East Jerusalem with the surrounding Palestinian area and would, in practice, prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.”

The peace activists said that the far-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking every opportunity to bury the chances for a peaceful future.

“Especially now, when it is clear to everyone that the ideas of ‘managing the conflict’ and ‘decisive victory’ have led to a security disaster for Israel, we must act to resolve the conflict.”

Meanwhile, the two million Palestinians in Gaza are continuing to struggle to recover from torrential rains that battered the enclave for days.

The storms have flooded camps for the displaced, collapsed already bombed buildings, leaving at least 12 dead, including a two-week-old baby.

The downpour, which dumped more than nine inches of rain on some parts of Gaza over the past week, turned dirt lanes to mud and flooded tents in camps for displaced people.

The Gaza Health Ministry said on Tuesday that the two-week-old died of hypothermia as a result of the weather. The baby was brought to the hospital a few days ago and was transferred to intensive care but died on Monday.

According to aid groups not enough shelter material has been getting into Gaza to help Palestinians deal with the coming winter — despite promises made by the Israelis in the so-called ceasefire agreement reached in October.

Recently released Israeli military figures suggest that it hasn’t met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.