Israel expands Jerusalem city limit to build homes
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Pastor Dale Morgan
May 25, 2011, 4:31:56 PM5/25/11
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Israel expands Jerusalem city limit to build homes
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan | Reuters
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel Wednesday expanded part of its municipal boundary for Jerusalem, a city at the core of the conflict with Palestinians, and announced plans to build 50,000 homes for Jews and Arabs there over the next two decades.
Officials said land annexed for the expansion came from a kibbutz on the edge of occupied territory where Palestinians seek statehood and cast the move as part of an anniversary celebration of Israel's capture of East Jerusalem in a 1967 war.
Separately, members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightist cabinet attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a recently built Jewish settlement in a largely Palestinian populated part of East Jerusalem, underscoring disputes that have dogged now-stalemated Middle East diplomacy for decades.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem as part of its capital -- a status never recognized internationally -- decades ago and Netanyahu repeated in a speech in Washington Tuesday that Israel would not cede any of the city under a future peace deal.
"Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel," he said, in remarks that drew swift condemnation from Palestinians.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who heads a powerful Orthodox Jewish party in Netanyahu's governing coalition, told reporters invited to his office Wednesday that "Jerusalem is Israel's eternal capital."
"We are widening the boundaries" of the city, Yishai added, while unveiling a plan to build a new neighborhood bordering on East Jerusalem where 1,600 to 2,000 housing units will be built.
"I am steadfast behind the goal of widening Jerusalem's borders, and ways must be found to do so," Yishai added, citing the early June anniversary of Israel's capture of East Jerusalem as "propitious timing" for the move.
Nir Barkat, the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, said the 290 dunam (30-hectare or 72-acre) swathe of land being annexed was not located in a zone "under controversy," suggesting it was not inside the West Bank, without being more specific.
"There are many different lines in Jerusalem," Barkat quipped when pressed on the subject.
He said the plan was part of a wider blueprint to build another 50,000 homes for Jews and Palestinians in the city in the next 20 years, when he expects the combined population to rise from a current 800,000 to a million people.
He did not detail these plans, which have not yet won official approval, but pledged there would be construction for Palestinians as well, saying "if we don't provide housing solutions in the Arab sector, illegal building goes on."
Palestinians who account for roughly half of Jerusalem's population say Israel is slow to give them building permits while predominantly Israeli neighborhoods have expanded in recent years.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Israel expands Jerusalem city limit to build homes
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan | Reuters
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel Wednesday expanded part of its municipal boundary for Jerusalem, a city at the core of the conflict with Palestinians, and announced plans to build 50,000 homes for Jews and Arabs there over the next two decades.
Officials said land annexed for the expansion came from a kibbutz on the edge of occupied territory where Palestinians seek statehood and cast the move as part of an anniversary celebration of Israel's capture of East Jerusalem in a 1967 war.
Separately, members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightist cabinet attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a recently built Jewish settlement in a largely Palestinian populated part of East Jerusalem, underscoring disputes that have dogged now-stalemated Middle East diplomacy for decades.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem as part of its capital -- a status never recognized internationally -- decades ago and Netanyahu repeated in a speech in Washington Tuesday that Israel would not cede any of the city under a future peace deal.
"Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel," he said, in remarks that drew swift condemnation from Palestinians.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who heads a powerful Orthodox Jewish party in Netanyahu's governing coalition, told reporters invited to his office Wednesday that "Jerusalem is Israel's eternal capital."
"We are widening the boundaries" of the city, Yishai added, while unveiling a plan to build a new neighborhood bordering on East Jerusalem where 1,600 to 2,000 housing units will be built.
"I am steadfast behind the goal of widening Jerusalem's borders, and ways must be found to do so," Yishai added, citing the early June anniversary of Israel's capture of East Jerusalem as "propitious timing" for the move.
Nir Barkat, the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, said the 290 dunam (30-hectare or 72-acre) swathe of land being annexed was not located in a zone "under controversy," suggesting it was not inside the West Bank, without being more specific.
"There are many different lines in Jerusalem," Barkat quipped when pressed on the subject.
He said the plan was part of a wider blueprint to build another 50,000 homes for Jews and Palestinians in the city in the next 20 years, when he expects the combined population to rise from a current 800,000 to a million people.
He did not detail these plans, which have not yet won official approval, but pledged there would be construction for Palestinians as well, saying "if we don't provide housing solutions in the Arab sector, illegal building goes on."
Palestinians who account for roughly half of Jerusalem's population say Israel is slow to give them building permits while predominantly Israeli neighborhoods have expanded in recent years.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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