Israeli Construction Prompts Fight

Israeli and Palestinian protesters scuffled with riot police Wednesday as a bulldozer tried to push ahead with construction of a Jewish neighborhood in an area of Jerusalem claimed by Palestinians.

An Israeli developer broke ground on the new neighborhood in east Jerusalem earlier this week. The move drew criticism from American and Palestinian officials, who said the project violates the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.

In a separate development, the Israeli military removed a barricade from a main road near the West Bank town of Ramallah. The army said the action was part of a program to ease restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement. Travel by Palestinians has been greatly restricted during three years of fighting.

The European Union appealed to Israel Wednesday to be more helpful to humanitarian relief groups, saying red tape was making their aid deliveries to Palestinians 20 percent more expensive than elsewhere in the world.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten told Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that the requirement for relief workers to obtain permits for themselves and their deliveries was a particular obstacle.

Also, Israel reportedly has rejected a recent Syrian initiative to halt violence along Israel's northern border and subsequently resume talks on a comprehensive peace settlement.

The Syrian proposal called for Israel to cease flights over southern Lebanon and halt all military action along its northern front, the Israeli newspaper Maariv report said.

In return, Syria would guarantee that the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah would complete cease attacks on Israeli targets, the report said.

Responding to Israeli complaints about U.S. support for an unofficial peace accord it does not sanction, the White House said Wednesday that President Bush's blueprint for peace in the Middle East is the best formula. However, it left the door open for Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet with those who drafted an alternate plan.

"The secretary of state will make determinations about who he meets with," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had called Powell's support for the accord a lapse of judgment.

President Bush meets Thursday with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House, reports CBS News Correspondent Peter Maer, centering on Iraq and Middle East peace efforts. The Jordanian monarch is on a "private visit" to the U.S.

Wednesday's scuffle in Jerusalem broke out when about 20 demonstrators from the Israeli monitoring group Peace Now, holding olive branches, blocked the bulldozer with their bodies while dozens of police tried to disperse them.

At least one man was taken away in handcuffs and another lay writhing on the ground until paramedics carried him off on a stretcher. Some onlookers said he was beaten by police, others said he was struck by the bulldozer.

After intervention by a legislator from the dovish Meretz party, police backed off, the bulldozer moved to another site and the demonstrators went away.

"Unfortunately the government of Israel and the mayor of Jerusalem are continuing to build settlements, instead of freezing settlement activity as required by the road map," lawmaker Ran Cohen said at the hillside plot.

"They are coming with bulldozers instead of negotiations," he said. "Is this bringing peace? It's only bringing conflict."

The construction comes at a delicate time. Palestinian officials and militant groups are gathering in Egypt this week to discuss a halt in attacks on Israel.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia hopes to present the truce offer to Israel and resume stalled peace talks.

But the new neighborhood, and a series of Israeli military raids on militants in the West Bank this week, have threatened the talks.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Israeli Arab community are warning of a "catastrophe" and an "explosion due to a loss of faith in the legitimate political system" because of their low standard living.

Recent studies show high infant mortality rates — in some cases on a par with Third World rates — and poverty for as much as 60 percent of Arab children.

Israeli Arabs, including Bedouin, are citizens of Israel. Palestinian Arabs are not.

The EU's Patten said relief groups feel "that, in practice, they are paying for the occupation" of the Palestinian territories.

"People's welfare is threatened. That cannot be good for the course of political moderation," Patten said.

"It costs about 20 percent more to deliver food or medical supplies" to Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip than other areas in the world, Patten told reporters after he met with Shalom.

Palestinians are the largest recipients of EU aid. In the last four years, the Europeans have donated close to US$1.20 billion in economic and other assistance.