Israel to build more homes in Jerusalem

Palestinians want east
Jerusalem for the capital
of a future state.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel announced plans Tuesday to build more than 1,000 homes in disputed east Jerusalem, infuriating the Palestinians and triggering a new crisis in already troubled peace talks.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of undermining efforts to reach a peace agreement by the end of the year and urged a halt to the project.

The fate of east Jerusalem is the thorniest issue in the peace talks. Israel captured the area in the 1967 Middle East war, later formally annexing it and building a string of neighborhoods that are now home to 180,000 Israelis.

Israel expects to retain Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem under a peace deal, but the Palestinians see construction there as threatening a final agreement.

The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state and have been urging Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to halt construction in the area.

Israel’s housing minister, Zeev Boim, announced the latest construction plans in response to assertions from Jerusalem’s city manager that Olmert was holding up work in east Jerusalem. Boim said a partial building freeze ordered recently applied only to settlements in the West Bank and not Jerusalem.

“We are building all over Jerusalem within its municipal borders. What people call delays are in fact final stages of coordination with city hall,” Boim told Israel Radio.

He said plans were under way to build 370 homes in Har Homa and 750 apartments in Pisgat Zeev, two Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.

Israel disclosed a similar plan in December to build some 300 homes in Har Homa, days after resuming peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a U.S.-hosted summit in Annapolis, Md. That plan drew U.S. criticism and stalled the talks for weeks.

At the Annapolis summit, Olmert and Abbas set a December 2008 target for reaching a final peace accord. On Tuesday, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the latest construction threatens chances of meeting that goal.

“We condemn these Israeli declarations, and once again we ask the Israeli government to give peace a chance by stopping all settlement activity,” he said.

In Washington, the State Department said it would seek clarification from the Israelis about the announcement, which it called a “potential irritant” to the peace process along with continued rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza.

“Our people are going to go in and seek clarification and find out exactly what this is,” spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. “If there is anything further to say about it at that point, we will.”