JERUSALEM, 14 June 2008 — Israel yesterday announced its second settlement project in occupied East Jerusalem this month, angering the international community just ahead of a US bid to rescue the deadlocked peace process.
Jerusalem Municipality confirmed a report in Haaretz newspaper that the green light had been given for 1,300 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied and annexed east of the city.
The houses will be built in Ramat Shlomo where there are already 2,000 settler homes, Haaretz reported.
The paper said the decision to proceed was taken on Tuesday by the Jerusalem Urban Planning Commission which reports to the Interior Ministry.
Haaretz called it one of the most ambitious expansion plans for settler homes in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed in a move not recognized by the international community.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat expressed outrage at the decision. “We firmly condemn this project which reveals the Israeli government’s intention to destroy peace,” said Erekat. “The international community must make Israel stop its settlement activity if it wants to give peace negotiations a chance.”
The new project will nearly double the number of homes in Ramat Shlomo.
“These 2,000 housing units intended for young couples and those currently in poor housing are an absolute necessity,” Jerusalem Municipality spokesman Gidi Schmerling said in a statement.
The settlement requested permits for close to 2,000 units, but so far 1,300 have been approved, Schmerling added.
On June 2, after Israel announced plans to construct 884 more houses in East Jerusalem, the White House warned that building such settlements “exacerbates the tensions” with the Palestinians.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also said he was deeply concerned at the move which is “contrary to international law.”
The Palestinians have demanded East Jerusalem as the capital of a promised state and have repeatedly called the expansion of settlements the greatest obstacle to a final peace deal.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due in Israel today for a brief trip aimed at injecting momentum into the moribund peace process revived to great fanfare in the United States last November.
Little progress has been made in the negotiations so far.
