 |
Israel dismisses US anger at settlement plan
An official said the order went out after a deputy minister was quoted by an Israeli news website as accusing the United States of “behaving like a bull in a china shop” for objecting to the building plan for an area in the West Bank that Israel sees as part of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu’s aide also sent reporters a message calling the building plan “a routine process.” He said Netanyahu does not normally review municipal building plans and saw Gilo as “an integral part of Jerusalem.” “Construction in Gilo has taken place regularly for dozens of years and there is nothing new about the current planning and construction,” the aide added. Publication of the government commission’s blueprint for Gilo on Tuesday drew sharp rebukes from the Palestinians, joined by Washington, Europe and the United Nations.
Nabil Abu Rdaineh, aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the building plan, saying it “destroys the last chances for the peace process.” Abbas has said peace talks could resume only if settlement building stopped, a demand rejected by the United States which has echoed Israel in calling for negotiations, suspended for nearly a year, to start without preconditions.
Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat told an Israeli radio station on Wednesday that Netanyahu “has the choice -- settlements or peace,” and accused Israel of trying to decide the conflict by building instead of at the negotiating table.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, visiting Jerusalem, said France regretted Israel’s decision. “But for now we must relaunch human dialogue, face to face, looking each other in the eye. I believe that is absolutely necessary,” Kouchner told reporters, referring to a revival of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Minister says plan ‘technical’
Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Attias, trying to minimize the plan’s significance, called it a “technical” matter, telling Army Radio it could be a year or more before building began. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement “at a time when we are working to relaunch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed.” The United States also objects to continued evictions and the demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the Israeli move, spokesman Farhan Haq said. Ban “believes that such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution” for Israelis and Palestinians, he said.
President Barack Obama has been trying to persuade Israel to rein in settlement activity. Netanyahu has said he would avoid expanding existing settlements, but rejects demands to stop building in Jerusalem.
Gilo, where some 40,000 Israelis live, was built on West Bank land Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed as part of Jerusalem. Some 500,000 Jews live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, also captured in 1967, among 2.7 million Palestinians.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AMANDA PAUL |  |
||
| Ukraine: a lost country | |||
| MÜMTAZER TÜRKÖNE |  |
||
| The 52nd anniversary of May 27 | |||
| ABDULLAH BOZKURT |  |
||
| Turkey and Mexico: Distant yet so close | |||
| BERİL DEDEOĞLU |  |
||
| Yemen and beyond | |||
| ARZU KAYA URANLI |  |
||
| On Memorial Day a few words to make your day memorable | |||
| ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ |  |
||
| Google kidnaps Gül! | |||
| CUMALİ ÖNAL |  |
||
| Critical months for Egypt | |||
| DOĞU ERGİL |  |
||
| Qualities of power | |||
| İHSAN YILMAZ |  |
||
| The Egyptian elections, Islam and Islamists | |||
| EMRE USLU |  |
||
| Operational errors | |||
| MARKAR ESAYAN |  |
||
| There is need for a new initiative | |||
| JOOST LAGENDIJK |  |
||
| Europe can’t have it all. Or can it? | |||
| HASAN KANBOLAT |  |
||
| Are Russian tourists being discouraged from visiting Turkey? | |||
| MELİH ARAT |  |
||
| Handmade | |||
| KLAUS JURGENS |  |
||
| Back to the ’80s | |||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
