Israel Approves New Housing For Jewish Settlers Construction In East Jerusalem Likely To Anger Palestinians, Threaten Fragile Peace Talks

Israel gave all-but-final approval Wednesday for a new Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem, ignoring international concerns and Palestinian warnings that the construction could set off a fresh round of violence and threaten the fragile peace process.

The Israelis approved the building on the traditionally Arab side of the holy city after a ministerial committee meeting convened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who campaigned last year on a promise to expand Jewish settlement in the Arab territories Israel has occupied for nearly three decades.

Palestinian officials immediately denounced the decision, calling it a violation of the interim Israeli-Palestinian accords and a dangerous mistake that called into question the years of mutual peacemaking.

“The whole peace process is in danger,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Ahmad Tibi, an Arafat advisor, added: “There is a lot of anger and frustration. Two of the most sensitive issues between us are settlements and Jerusalem. In this action, we have both.”

Late Wednesday, Arafat was in an emergency meeting at his Gaza headquarters to determine the Palestinian response.

The Israeli decision met with swift international condemnation. The United States, which brokered the recent agreement on the Israeli troop withdrawal from most of the West Bank town of Hebron, expressed concern. White House spokesman David Johnson said the latest Israeli decision “further complicates an already complicated situation.”

King Hussein of Jordan, whose country maintains the closest ties of any Arab nation to the Jewish state, sent an envoy to Netanyahu urging him to reverse the decision, which he said could undermine the Middle East peace process.

But Netanyahu, who said his government also intends to permit construction of 3,015 units for Arabs in the next three years, characterized Wednesday’s decision as a step to ease a severe housing shortage in Jerusalem. “We are not seeking confrontation with anyone,” he said Wednesday. “We are asserting our right as the sovereign in Jerusalem to build anywhere the government may decide to build and this we did today, I think, with great responsibility.”

Plans call for building 2,456 apartments in the first phase of a 6,500-home development for Jews on a tranquil, pine-forested hill that separates east Jerusalem from nearby Palestinian villages. The area, which is at the rocky, southeastern corner of the city’s outskirts, is known as Har Homa in Hebrew and Jabal Abu Ghneim in Arabic.