§ Dr. StarkeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 9 November 1998,Official Report, column 33, if he will request the Israeli Government to list the number of building permits issued for Jewish housing in East Jerusalem since 1994 indicating where building (a) has been completed, (b) is in progress and (c) has yet to start. [59556]
§ Mr. FatchettWe have no exact figures but, according to the available information since February 1995 approximately 3,000 Jewish housing units have been built on confiscated land and a further 6,200 units are at various stages of the planning process. Of the latter, 6,000 are planned for Har Homa (Jebel Abu Ghneim), although tenders have been issued for only 1,025 units; 58 building permits have been issued on the Mount of Olives; and 70-130 units are planned for Ras al-Amoud, although these are not at a very advanced stage. We are unaware of any actual building underway on housing units in East Jerusalem this year: most of the activity has involved either paper exercises or the laying of infrastructure and erection of fences in preparation for building.