Skip to main content

Israel Rejects US Demand to Halt East Jerusalem Project





By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
19 July 2009

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu attends his weekly cabinet meeting in Be’er Sheva, Israel, 12 Jul 2009
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel's right-wing government has reacted angrily to fresh American criticism of Jewish settlements.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a demand by the United States to halt a project to build apartments for Jews in disputed East Jerusalem.

"United Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel," Mr. Netanyahu told the Cabinet, and he said, "Israeli sovereignty in the city is indisputable."

The Prime Minister spoke after Israel's ambassador to Washington was summoned to the State Department and told that an East Jerusalem project financed by an American millionaire must be stopped.







Mr. Netanyahu said Jews are entitled to live anywhere in Jerusalem. He said it would be an international scandal if Jews were not allowed to live in certain neighborhoods of New York, London or Paris, and the same should apply to Jerusalem.

But the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and the United States sees Israeli construction in the area as an obstacle to peace.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat:

"The job of the Israeli Prime Minster should be to prepare his people for what it takes to make peace," Erekat said. "He knows very much that there will never be peace between Palestinians and Israelis without East Jerusalem being the capital of the Palestinian state."

The settlement issue has created a deepening rift between Israel and Washington, since Mr. Netanyahu's nationalist government took power three months ago. Israel wants to mend fences with its closest ally, but officials here say Jerusalem is a red line.



Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ASEAN pushes for resumption of N. Korea nuke talks

ASEAN and friends: Foreign Ministers from left, Vietnam's Pham Gia Khiem, South Korea's Kim Sung-hwan, Japan's Takeaki Matsumoto, Indonesia's Marty Natalegawa, and China's Yang Jiechi, hold hands during a group photo at the opening session of ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Thursday. (AP/Dita Alangkara) Associated Press, Nusa Dua | Thu, 07/21/2011 2:19 PM Foreign ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations are calling for a speedy resumption of talks aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Russia had been negotiating since 2003 to persuade Pyongyang to dismantle the program in exchange for aid and other concessions. The North pulled out of the talks about two years ago after being censured for launching a long-range rocket. It has indicated a willingness in recent months to return to the table. The 10-member Association of Southeast As...
Post a Comment
Read more

Judicial watchdog to visit Antasari in prison

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 06/15/2011 9:45 PM The Judicial Commission plans to send investigators to question former Corruption Eradication Commission chief Antasari Azhar regarding his belief that the panel of judges made mistakes during his trial. “We want to hear and collect evidence from his side, if there is any, about the judges during his trial,” Suparman Marzuki, the commission’s supervisory division chief, said Wednesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com. The Judicial Commission is in the middle of gathering evidence in response to an allegation by Antasari’s lawyer that the panel of judges took into consideration the wrong evidence during his trial. The South Jakarta District Court panel found Antasari guilty of murder and he is currently detained at Tangerang Penitentiary.
Post a Comment
Read more