Europe and the US condemned Israeli plans announced on Tuesday for another 1,100 homes in an East Jerusalem settlement, a move Palestinian leaders said snubbed a recent offer of talks.
They responded sharply to the Israeli Ministry of the Interior’s announcement that it had approved plans for the new housing units in Gilo, subject to a 60-day period for public objections.
It was just one stage of a lengthy, multi-year approvals process for the planned expansion of the Gilo neighborhood.
However, the Palestinian leadership said the move effectively rebuffed a recent proposal from the Middle East Quartet — the UN, the EU, the US and Russia — for fresh peace talks.
“With this, Israel is responding to the Quartet’s statement with 1,100 ‘Nos,’” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said, shortly after the approval was made public.
Richard Miron, spokesman for UN Middle East peace envoy Robert Serry, took a similar view.
“Today’s decision ... ignores the Quartet’s appeal of last Friday to the parties to refrain from provocative actions,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“This sends the wrong signal at this sensitive time,” he added. “Settlement activity is contrary to the roadmap and to international law, and undermines the prospect of resuming negotiations and reaching a two state solution to the conflict.”
On Friday, the Quartet called on Israel and the Palestinians to resume talks within a month, with the goal of reaching a deal within a year. They made the proposal shortly after the Palestinians formally submitted their bid for full state membership of the UN, over the objections of Israel and the US.
“The administration and the United States government is deeply disappointed by that announcement,” US President Barack Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on board Air Force One on a trip to California and Colorado.
EU diplomatic head Catherine Ashton also condemned the development.
“Last Friday, the Quartet called on the Israelis and Palestinians to refrain from provocative actions if negotiations are to resume and be effective. I therefore deplore today’s decision ... I call on the Israeli authorities to reverse this plan,” she said in a statement.
However, Yair Gabbay, a member of the interior ministry committee who also serves as a Jerusalem councilor, said the move was a step towards protecting the area from “foreign ownership.”
“According to the Basic Law, which is equivalent to a Constitution, this area is within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, and we are fulfilling our duty in making sure it will remain that way, and not be subject to any foreign ownership,” he said.
“Jerusalem is not for sale,” he added. “It has been, and will always be, the capital of the Jewish people.”
Gabbay also said the committee had approved hundreds of housing units in East Jerusalem for Palestinians during the same meeting.
The Quartet’s call did not contain any explicit request for Israel to halt settlement building before peace talks resume.
In comments published on Tuesday in the Jerusalem Post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested he would not approve a new freeze. He accused the Palestinians of using settlement construction as a “pretext” to avoid direct talks.
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