Israel rejects US call to halt Jerusalem project
Pastor Dale Morgan
Israel rejects US call to halt Jerusalem project*
By AMY TEIBEL
The Associated Press
Sunday, July 19, 2009; 5:31 AM
JERUSALEM -- Israel on Sunday rejected a U.S. demand to suspend a
planned housing project in east Jerusalem, threatening to further
complicate an unusually tense standoff with its strongest ally over
settlement construction.
Israeli officials said the country's ambassador to Washington, Michael
Oren, was summoned to the State Department over the weekend and told
that a project being developed by an American millionaire should not go
ahead.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet there
would be no limits on Jewish construction anywhere in "unified Jerusalem."
"We cannot accept the fact that Jews wouldn't be entitled to live and
buy anywhere in Jerusalem," Netanyahu declared, calling Israeli
sovereignty over the entire city "indisputable."
The international community considers Jewish neighborhoods in east
Jerusalem to be settlements and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian
peacemaking. Israel does not regard them as settlements because it
annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 after capturing it in June of that year.
East Jerusalem is an especially volatile issue because it is the site of
key Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. The Palestinians want the
traditionally Arab sector of the city to be the capital of their future
state.
"If the Israeli prime minister continues with settlement activities, he
will undermine efforts to revive the peace process," Palestinian
negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
According to Army Radio, the U.S. has demanded that planning approval
for the project be revoked.
The approval, granted by the Jerusalem municipality earlier this month,
allows for the construction of 20 apartments plus a three-level
underground parking lot.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment.
Settlements have emerged as a major sticking point in relations between
Israel and Washington under the Obama administration.
The Palestinians have been encouraged by Washington's insistence that
Israel freeze all settlement construction on lands in east Jerusalem and
the West Bank that the Palestinians claim for a future state.
Nearly 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, in addition to
about 180,000 Israelis living in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians say the Israeli presence makes it increasingly
difficult to establish an independent state in these areas. They have
refused to restart peace talks until Israel halts all settlement
expansion, something the Israeli government has refused to do.
The east Jerusalem project is being developed by Irving Moskowitz, an
influential supporter of Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem who
purchased the Shepherd Hotel in 1985 and plans to tear it down and build
apartments in its place.
The hotel is located near a government compound that includes several
government ministries and the national police headquarters.