JERUSALEM, July 19, 2009
Israel Snubs U.S. Call to Halt Settlement
Construction of Housing Project in Disputed Section of Holy City Will Continue, Says Ambassador
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The Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem on Sunday, July 19. 2009. Israeli officials have rejected U.S. demands that a planned apartment housing project on the grounds of the hotel be suspended, the latest sign of a deepening conflict between the two allies over Israeli settlements. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
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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 in the disputed section of the holy city should not go ahead.
Settlements built on captured lands claimed by the Palestinians have emerged as a major sticking point in relations between Israel and the Obama administration because of their potential to disrupt Mideast peacemaking.
Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently yielded to heavy U.S. pressure to endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state, he has resisted American demands for an immediate freeze on settlement expansion.
On Sunday, 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 the 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.
The Palestinians have been encouraged by Washington's insistence that Israel freeze all settlement construction on captured lands in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. 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 Jerusalem municipality issued a statement saying the purchase was legal and it had acted with "full transparency" in granting building permits.
The hotel is located near a government compound that includes several government ministries and the national police headquarters.
By Associated Press Writer Amy Teibel
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 136 Comments
- Left liberal hypocrisy raises its ugly head.
Mr. "let me make this clear" Obama, the man who has made relentless pontificating and supercilious speechifying the brand of his administration, was tight-lipped to the point of paralysis when innocent Iranian protesters were being slaughtered. When pressed, he expressed "outrage" nothing more.
Why? Because sovereign nations have the right to govern themselves without American interference.
Except when it comes to Israel.
If we're going to chide Israel about building one stupid apartment building on territory it acquired in war, then we ought to give back Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana and Florida for starters. - Reply to this comment
- Regarding Jerusalem: On May 28, 1948, the Jewish quarter of the Old City fell to the Jordanians. After 10 months of fighting, an armistice agreement was signed on April 3, 1949, dividing Jerusalem along the November 1948 ceasefire lines of Israeli and Jordanian forces, with several areas of no-man?s land. The armistice line served as a temporary border between what had formerly been two mixed communities.
Upon capturing eastern Jerusalem, Jordan killed or expelled its Jewish residents and desecrated and destroyed Jewish holy sites.
During the Jordanian occupation of eastern Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967, Jews were forbidden access to their holy sites?including the Western Wall of the Temple Mount?and to the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, in use from ancient times to the present. Christians were subject to many restrictions, both during pilgrimages to their holy places and in administering their institutions. When the city was recaptured and reunited by the Israelis in 1967, Israel annulled the discriminatory laws, allowing access for all religions to their holy sites, and granted the Islamic Wakf (religious trust) civil authority on the Temple Mount.
Israelis are understandably reluctant to return the most sacred precincts of their worship to a sworn enemy, and yet their rule over East Jerusalem has been more tolerant than when the Jordans had it or when the Palestinians might have it in the future. - Reply to this comment
- Fine
Let the loathsome troublemakers continue to build their settlements. But let's make sure they can't get a single cent out of America. That includes not only government help but also the money funneled to them through Aipac. - Reply to this comment
- Israel should keep building on and on. "Stolen Land" my butt ! Israel gave these uneducated arab thugs all they asked and it wasn't enough. This is when enough is enough ! Build, Build and Build !
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- http://alnakba.org
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- by golfered2 July 19, 2009 6:42 PM EDT
Here we go again!!! The JEWS are stealing Arab land again!!!!
It's not "stealing land again".
It's "STILL stealing land". - Reply to this comment
- I think if you reveal5, the ladies just laugh.
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- Israel obviously does not care about peace.
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- Israel is not to be blamed!
It is the American politicians who sell their own countries best interest to the Israeli, Saudi, and anyone else who can put money, women, or political gain in their pockets, bedrooms, or offices!
Israel is just acting on the American Political Systems method of Currency!
I use to be very Anti Israeli and Middle East but I boiled it all down and found out that it is our politicians who are the ones letting these little Middle East countries spoil out great Nation! - Reply to this comment
- Nakba......
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- by zeitmin77 July 19, 2009 5:28 PM EDT
The MSM expects the rest of the world to fall at the feet of Obama like it does every day.That this is not happening is a healthy sign that self-esteem is still valued at least in other countries.
MSM: any news outlet that broadcasts the truth, and doesn't get their talking points from Limbaugh, Steele, and the Fox News "all-star team". - Reply to this comment
- The MSM expects the rest of the world to fall at the feet of Obama like it does every day.That this is not happening is a healthy sign that self-esteem is still valued at least in other countries.
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- by eas9999 July 19, 2009 2:36 PM EDT
ISRAEL (who provoked no one) was attacked again and again and again...
You must have never heard of "nakba", huh?
That's when the Israeli's declared themselves a nation, and with brutal military force, EVICTED the native inhabitants from their homes and lands.
If that isn't "provocation", I have NO IDEA what is. - Reply to this comment
- by curiously1 July 19, 2009 4:57 PM EDT
Why not build? It's now inevitable that there will be a war of some sort. No one can satisfy the hard-line arabs. Build away, Israel !
They're building on the land they STOLE AT GUNPOINT, AFTER EVICTING THE PALESTINIANS WITH BULLDOZERS, and you're claiming that it's the "hard line arabs" that need to be satisfied?!?! - Reply to this comment
- Why not build? It's now inevitable that there will be a war of some sort. No one can satisfy the hard-line arabs. Build away, Israel !
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- Since Jerusalem is the capital of the sovereign State of Israel, it is a no-brainer for Israel to do as it wishes with its territory. In the meantime, our country is seriously challenged with the crashing economy and multitude of other issues. How about worrying how we free our captive soldier being held by the Taliban? Do something useful.
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- Israel is the greatest threat to Peace in the Middle East. The US should quit giving them arms and ?Aid? Money. Some say they are our ally. I think they are the cause of most of the stress in the area and indirectly 9/11.
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- No more Tax Money For the never ending Zionist Bailout.
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- So much anti-Israel hatred....and from Americans? Before any American starts making an issue regarding "new" settlements in the former palestinian lands....look to our own country. Maybe Texas and California should not allow any "new" settlements from Americans until we're sure we actually defeated Mexico (and legally acquired those lands). To be frank, Americas war(s) with Mexico were unjust and were aimed at getting land. Period. Israel's wars were more honorable in comparison.
ISRAEL (who provoked no one) was attacked again and again and again...and THEY WON EVERY TIME. Its up to them to decide what they want to do with their "acquired" land. Hopefully, they'll be generous (like we were generous to native americans and former mexican land owners)...but its not our call. - Reply to this comment
- Hebrew no longer exists as a race,
they have Evolved from Palestinian to Russian immigrant. - Reply to this comment
