Israeli committee postpone a vote to authorize construction of almost 500 new homes in Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem

   An Israeli committee has postponed a vote to authorize construction of almost 500 new homes in Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

   According to reports, the move follows a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
   It also comes ahead of a speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by US Secretary of State John Kerry.
    It would be recalled that the US chose not to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to settlement construction.
   The decision to abstain infuriated  Netanyahu, whose spokesman said that he had "ironclad information" from Arab sources that the White House had helped draft the language of the resolution and "pushed hard" for its passage.

   Report says, More than 500,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.