Israel is pushing ahead with plans to build 1,300 new apartments for Jewish families in Arab East Jerusalem, the Israeli Ministry of the Interior said on Monday, despite fierce opposition from Palestinians.
The timing of the announcement could prove an embarrassment for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in the US looking for ways to revive Middle East peace talks that have stalled over the issue of Jewish settlement building.
Ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said plans for the housing units in two neighborhoods on land Israel seized in a 1967 war had been made public, passing another procedural stage toward eventual construction.
Photo: Reuters
She said the public could still raise objections to the plans and it could take a long time before building commenced.
“It can take months or years from this point until building can actually begin, or even before tenders for building are issued,” Orbach said.
The US said it was “deeply disappointed” by news of the housing project.
“It is counterproductive to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties,” US Department of State spokesman P.J. Crowley said, adding that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was expected to bring the matter up in a meeting with Netanyahu in New York tomorrow.
At a meeting in New York with former US president Bill Clinton, Netanyahu was asked by reporters to comment on the US criticism.
“You know, President Clinton and I have a lot of things to discuss, but this particular issue I’m going to discuss, I’m sure, with Mrs Clinton on Thursday, so you can ask me then,” Netanyahu said.
Earlier, Netanyahu held talks at the UN with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who the UN press office said “expressed concern at the resumption of settlement activity and recent announcements of further settlement construction in East Jerusalem.”
Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in September almost as soon as they had begun, after Netanyahu rebuffed Palestinian demands to extend a partial freeze on West Bank settlement building.
The limited moratorium did not include construction work in areas Israel considers part of Jerusalem.
An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ruled out any return to negotiations as long as Israel continued to build and called on the US to act against the Jewish state so that the talks could restart.
“Israel is continuing to create obstacles ... There will be no return to negotiations while Israel pursues settlement activities,” Nabil Abu Rdainah told reporters.
“[Netanyahu] is giving a signal to the Americans that [Israel] will not agree to halt settlements ... We demand that the US administration take practical steps to resume the peace process, there will not be a peace treaty without having East Jerusalem as the capital of [the] state of Palestine,” he added.
Crowley said the US was seeking to understand the background to the announcement and said “it could very well be that somebody in Israel has made this known in order to embarrass the prime minister and to undermine the process.”
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