Jerusalem: Israeli authorities said they are planning to build 1,400 apartments in a contested part of Jerusalem, enraging Palestinians who denounced the plan as another settler land grab.
Palestinians already have broken off peace talks with Israel for refusing to halt construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. They claim these areas, which Israel captured in 1967, and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for a future state. Jewish settlement construction has stoked frictions with the United States as well.
Jerusalem officials confirmed they were aware of the plan, but would not say when the city’s planning committee, which needs to approve such projects, would vote on it.
“Jerusalem City Hall continues to advance construction for Arabs and Jews alike according to the master plan,” the spokesman’s office said. “New construction in Jerusalem is necessary to the development of the city.”
Israel annexed east Jerusalem after the 1967 Mideast war and claims the entire city as its capital. The international community has never recognized the annexation, and the Palestinians hope to make east Jerusalem the capital of their future state.
The latest plan, to build 1,400 apartments in the existing Jewish neighborhood of Gilo, is being promoted by the Jerusalem Development Authority, a joint corporation of the Israeli government and the Jerusalem municipality.
Gilo is a sprawling development on Jerusalem’s southern edge, built on lands captured in 1967.
Although construction would likely not begin for years, the Palestinians said the new plan undermined hopes for peace.
“The plan is to give the maximum support to the settler movement, to grab the most land in a short time, alter the status quo and create facts on the ground,” said Husam Zomlot, a spokesman for the Palestinian government in the West Bank.
The U.S. Embassy wasn’t immediately available for comment. It has condemned similar projects as being an obstacle to peace, and last week harshly criticized Israel for demolishing a historic hotel in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem to make way for 20 apartments for Jews.
If approved, the Gilo project would create territorial contiguity between the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem and the city itself, said Meir Margalit, a Jerusalem councilman from the dovish Meretz Party.
He predicted it would take years to build the project, which would also require Interior Ministry approval, but warned it would nonetheless damage peace prospects. Since talks broke down in September, the U.S. has been trying to find a compromise formula to bring the sides back to the negotiating table.
“I hope (the plan) will roil the Americans and shake them out of their coma,” Margalit said. “If there is any chance to bring the Palestinians back to negotiations, then we have to stop this project.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office refused to comment on the project, noting only that Netanyahu believes Jewish and Arab residents of Jerusalem should be free to live wherever they want in the city.
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