Palestinians slam Israeli move to build new homes in E. Jerusalem

Haaretz 18:29 06/12/2007

By The Associated Press

The Palestinians on Tuesday condemned an Israeli plan to build more than 300 new homes in a disputed East Jerusalem neighborhood, claiming that the move is undermining newly revived peace talks. Housing Ministry spokesman Kobi Bleich said 307 housing units would be build in Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Israel captured the eastern part of the city in the 1967 Six-Day-War and annexed the area. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he sent an urgent message to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, asking her to block the project from moving forward. "This is undermining Annapolis," he said, referring to last week's U.S.-hosted summit, where Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace talks.
The two sides agreed to base their peace talks on the U.S.-backed road map, a peace plan that calls on Israel to halt all settlement construction. The Palestinians consider any construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be settlement activity. Israel says the settlement freeze does not apply to Jerusalem. "Israel makes a clear distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Israel has never made a commitment to limit our sovereignty in Jerusalem. Implementation of the first phase of the road map does not apply to Jerusalem." Har Homa is just inside the expanded city limits of Jerusalem, drawn after Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. Israel annexed east Jerusalem days after the war, but no country recognized that. Since 1967, Israel has built a string of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, with about 180,000 residents. Har Homa, at the southern edge of the city line, is the newest.