Perilous Times
20 new Jewish homes approved in east Jerusalem
[20 new Jewish homes approved in east Jerusalem] 20 new Jewish homes
approved in east Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (AFP) - – The construction of 20 new homes in a Jewish
settlement in annexed east Jerusalem was approved on Monday, officials
said, in a move likely to hamper Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The city's planning and construction committee authorised the
construction in the Pisgat Ze'ev neighbourhood, said Stephen Miller, a
spokesman for mayor Nir Barkat.
The neighbourhood is one of the largest Jewish settlements built in
mostly Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle
East war and later annexed.
Miller said the committee at a meeting on Monday authorised more than
100 building permit requests from all parts of Jerusalem, including in
Arab neighbourhoods.
Jerusalem and Jewish settlements are among the thorniest issues in
efforts to achieve a peace deal.
Israel considers the Holy City its "eternal and indivisible" capital
and has vowed to continue building there, while the Palestinians see
east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.
So-called proximity talks were originally due to start in March but the
Palestinians withdrew after Israel publicised a plan to build 1,600
units in east Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo district.
The Palestinians eventually agreed to hold the indirect talks after
receiving US assurances the Ramat Shlomo expansion plan would be
frozen, a move Israel denied.
Israel is now pushing the Palestinians to agree to enter direct talks,
but they have so far refused and made them conditional on an Israeli
freeze on all settlement construction, including in east Jerusalem.
"We will continue building Jerusalem in all its neighbourhoods, without
consideration for the political situation," committee member Elisha
Peleg told the Ynet news Website.
However, Miller said it was unlikely that the building of the 20 units
in Pisgat Ze'ev would start any time soon.
"It still has to go to 15-to-20 municipal departments for approval,
like sanitation and environment, before they can pay their fees and
start building," the spokesman said.