Israel and US in back-and-forth over Jerusalem construction (Roundup)

Nov 10, 2010, 15:22 GMT

Jerusalem - Israel vowed Wednesday to continue construction in East Jerusalem, keeping up a public back-and-fourth with the United States, which slapped its key Middle Eastern ally on the wrist over the issue three times in 24 hours.

Palestinians for their part said they intend asking the United Nations Security Council to hold an urgent session on the issue of Israeli settlement construction in the Palestinian areas.

Israeli Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hausner, addressing the question of Israeli housing projects in East Jerusalem, insisted Wednesday that the location was not covered by a moratorium on construction at its West Bank settlements.

'There was no freeze in Jerusalem. There will be no freeze in Jerusalem. This has been the policy of all Israeli governments for 40 years,' he told Israel Radio.

Israel, which captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War and incorporated it into the Jerusalem municipal boundaries shortly afterwards, regards it part of its 'eternal, united capital.'

Hauser noted some 300,000 Israelis lived in Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem built beyond the 'green line' separating Israel from the West Bank.

'I don't think that anyone would conceive a freeze there. This city is developing, both for the benefit of its Arab and its Jewish population, in all its parts,' he said.

Israeli construction in those settlements, which he said would become part of Israel under any future peace deal, 'never hindered the negotiations with Egypt, Jordan or the Palestinians in previous years,' he argued.

But Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement Wednesday that Abbas told Palestine representative to the United Nations to ask for an urgent session of the Security Council to discuss widespread settlement construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

He said that settlement construction, 'whether it was in Jerusalem or anywhere in the Palestinian territories, is a violation of international law which says settlements are illegal.'

'None in the entire world has recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,' Abu Rudeineh added.

Hausner meanwhile tried to downplay accusations of a serious Israeli-US rift over the construction issue, charging the media were trying to create drama.

He noted that Israeli authorities took the decision to build 1,345 housing units in the East Jerusalem settlements of Har Homa and Ramot already October 20, but charged 'publication was timed for some reason with the premier's visit to the US.'

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said such plans were 'never helpful'. A day earlier, the US State department said Washington was 'deeply disappointed' by Israel's plans to build in the settlements.

The plans were published in Israel newspapers earlier this week while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in New Orleans, where he met with US Vice President Joe Biden.

Following the US criticism, Netanyahu's Jerusalem office issued a statement late Tuesday, insisting that 'Jerusalem is not a settlement. Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel' and that 'Israel has never accepted upon itself restrictions of any kind on construction in Jerusalem.'

It added it saw 'no connection' between the peace process and Israel's 'planning and building policy in Jerusalem, which has not changed in 40 years.'

US Assistant Secretary Philip J Crowley, answering reporters' questions in Washington, however then countered that 'there clearly is a link in the sense that it is incumbent upon both parties, as we have insisted all along, that they are responsible for creating conditions for a successful negotiation.'

'So to suggest that this kind of announcement would not have an impact on the Palestinian side, I think, is incorrect.'

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York on Thursday.

Israel says it wants Jewish 'neighbourhoods' of Jerusalem expanding onto West Bank land to be part of its self-declared capital under any future peace deal. But the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state and charge the construction is eating away at their future state and capital.

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