Israel go-ahead for homes in disputed area
Source: Agencies |
August 12, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ISRAEL'S interior minister gave final authorization to build 1,600 apartments in disputed east Jerusalem and will approve 2,700 more in days, officials said yesterday.
The announcement drew immediate criticism from the Palestinians, and from Israel's leading anti-settlement group, which accused the government of seizing on mass protests over housing costs to give economic justification to the always explosive issue of building in the holy city.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office knew the construction plans were moving ahead, Interior Ministry spokesman Roi Lachmanovich said. An earlier approval for the 1,600-apartment project embarrassed Netanyahu and caused a diplomatic rift with the US because it coincided with a visit to Israel by US Vice President Joe Biden.
New problems
Palestinians oppose all Israeli construction in east Jerusalem because it chips away at their hopes to establish the capital of a future state in the holy city. The approval for the new apartments also could create new problems for Washington, which is trying to persuade the Palestinians to abandon their statehood bid and enter into negotiations with Israel instead.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat accused Israel of favoring settlements over peace. "We call upon the US administration to support our endeavor at the UN because the only way to preserve the two-state solution now is the admittance of the state of Palestine," he said.
Ministry spokesman Lachmanovich said the new apartments were necessary to address a housing shortage.
Construction will likely not begin for years because building plans will have to go through approval processes.
The Peace Now anti-settlement group accused the government of "cynically" exploiting a grassroots uprising sparked by high housing prices to cement plans to build apartments in Jerusalem's contested eastern sector.
Unilateral actions
It was also unlikely to win much favor with Israel's closest ally, the United States, which says negotiations on Jerusalem and other core issues are the only way forward.
Jerusalem's fate "needs to be negotiated between the two parties," said US embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer. "Unilateral actions that appear to prejudice the outcome of those negotiations we find counterproductive."
On Tuesday, Washington rebuked Israel for advancing separate plans to build 930 apartments in another neighborhood of east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians refuse to negotiate with the Netanyahu government as long as it continues to build in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - territories that would form the core of their future independent state.
Israel argues that previous talks moved ahead in tandem with settlement construction.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 after capturing it from Jordan. It does not consider the Jewish neighborhoods it has built there to be settlements even though the international community makes no such distinction and does not recognize Jerusalem's annexation.
About 500,000 Jews have made their homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1967.
The announcement drew immediate criticism from the Palestinians, and from Israel's leading anti-settlement group, which accused the government of seizing on mass protests over housing costs to give economic justification to the always explosive issue of building in the holy city.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office knew the construction plans were moving ahead, Interior Ministry spokesman Roi Lachmanovich said. An earlier approval for the 1,600-apartment project embarrassed Netanyahu and caused a diplomatic rift with the US because it coincided with a visit to Israel by US Vice President Joe Biden.
New problems
Palestinians oppose all Israeli construction in east Jerusalem because it chips away at their hopes to establish the capital of a future state in the holy city. The approval for the new apartments also could create new problems for Washington, which is trying to persuade the Palestinians to abandon their statehood bid and enter into negotiations with Israel instead.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat accused Israel of favoring settlements over peace. "We call upon the US administration to support our endeavor at the UN because the only way to preserve the two-state solution now is the admittance of the state of Palestine," he said.
Ministry spokesman Lachmanovich said the new apartments were necessary to address a housing shortage.
Construction will likely not begin for years because building plans will have to go through approval processes.
The Peace Now anti-settlement group accused the government of "cynically" exploiting a grassroots uprising sparked by high housing prices to cement plans to build apartments in Jerusalem's contested eastern sector.
Unilateral actions
It was also unlikely to win much favor with Israel's closest ally, the United States, which says negotiations on Jerusalem and other core issues are the only way forward.
Jerusalem's fate "needs to be negotiated between the two parties," said US embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer. "Unilateral actions that appear to prejudice the outcome of those negotiations we find counterproductive."
On Tuesday, Washington rebuked Israel for advancing separate plans to build 930 apartments in another neighborhood of east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians refuse to negotiate with the Netanyahu government as long as it continues to build in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - territories that would form the core of their future independent state.
Israel argues that previous talks moved ahead in tandem with settlement construction.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 after capturing it from Jordan. It does not consider the Jewish neighborhoods it has built there to be settlements even though the international community makes no such distinction and does not recognize Jerusalem's annexation.
About 500,000 Jews have made their homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank since 1967.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
