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Israel okays 900 units in occupied Jerusalem
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel approved the construction of 900 new housing units in the occupied east Jerusalem on Tuesday in defiance of calls by the United States to freeze the project as the Palestinian leadership said it was headed to the United Nations to gain state recognition.

Earlier today press reported that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was adamant on building illegal settlements in the occupied land in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope to make the capital of a future state.

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell had recently asked the hawkish premier to halt the project in Gilo, saying it risks raising tensions with Palestinians amid floundering efforts by Washington to restart peace negotiations, it said.

" I would hope that we would be in a position to recognize a Palestinian state but there has to be one first, so I think it is somewhat premature "
Swedish FM
But Netanyahu refused, saying that the project did not require government approval and that Gilo was "an integral part of Jerusalem," it said.

Asked to comment on the report, a senior Israeli official would say only that Netanyahu "is ready to show the maximum restraint when it comes to construction in Judeaea and Samaria (West Bank) to help restart (peace) negotiations, but this policy does not apply in Jerusalem, our capital."

No comment was immediately available from the U.S. side.

Gilo lies in the mostly Arab east Jerusalem that Israel captured along with the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in an illegal move not recognized by the international community.

Israel is defiant and promotes the idea that both halves of the Holy City are its "eternal, indivisible" capital. The Palestinians want to make the eastern part of the city the capital of their promised state.

Also on Tuesday the European Union's Swedish presidency said that it was "premature" to recognize a Palestinian state, which the Palestinians are taking as their next step due to repeated stalled peace talks.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, told reporters in Brussels: "I don't think we are there yet."

"I would hope that we would be in a position to recognize a Palestinian state but there has to be one first, so I think it is somewhat premature," he said, before chairing talks with his EU counterparts.


Posted by: Fred 2009-11-18
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=283647