Israel Gives No Ground On Housing Construction Of 6,500 Units For Jews On Arab Ground To Begin This Week

Despite a warm reconciliation with Jordan’s King Hussein, Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that construction of a Jewish housing project in disputed east Jerusalem would begin this week.

“I said it would start this week. It will begin this week,” the Israeli prime minister told a news conference after meeting with Hussein in Jerusalem. The two also spoke by telephone with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in an effort to ease the crisis in the peace talks. Afterward, Netanyahu adviser David Bar-Illan said the premier and Arafat were likely to meet later this week, possibly as early as Tuesday, to try to resolve the differences.

Official contacts between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold because of plans for the 6,500-unit housing project in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital.

Hussein has criticized the project, and on Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister called it a “great catastrophe.” Ali Akbar Velayati said the building plans “had injured the hearts of Muslims,” according to Iran’s official Islamic Republic news agency.

Arab east Jerusalem, home to more than 140,000 Palestinians, is the site of Islam’s third holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa Mosque. Palestinian leaders have warned that if Israel goes ahead with the project, it could spell the end of the peace process.

In an apparent effort to offset Palestinian anger, Netanyahu’s office said Sunday night that an agreement had been reached on opening the Gaza Airport, a sticking point in Israeli-Palestinian talks because of Israel’s insistence on controlling security.

Netanyahu said that he, Hussein and Arafat agreed that “We have much to gain - all three of us - from moving the process forward. And we cannot let our disagreements, which are as yet unresolved, destroy the process.”

Hussein suggested there were behind-the-scenes efforts to find a new approach to the negotiations. “Do not expect that everything will be laid out in front of you,” he told reporters.

Netanyahu also seemed to hint at a new approach, saying: “We cannot solve all the problems right now, but we can create a different basis of dialogue between us and the Palestinians.”

Under the agreement reached on opening the Gaza Airport, Arafat would be allowed to take off and land at the partially completed airport immediately, and discussions on its future will continue.

The airport dispute led to last week’s angry exchange of letters between Netanyahu and Hussein, after Israel refused the king’s request to fly Arafat to the Gaza airport in his private plane.

David Bar-Illan, a top aide to Netanyahu, said the telephone calls to Arafat focused on efforts to set up a meeting between the prime minister and the Palestinian leader, but that nothing definite was decided.

“The line of communications between Netanyahu and Arafat has been reopened,” he said.

Hussein came to Israel to offer condolences to the families of seven Israeli schoolgirls killed by a Jordanian gunman last Thursday.

Earlier Sunday, an Israeli Cabinet minister caused a stir by saying that if Arafat ordered a violent reaction to the Har Homa project, he could find himself once again in exile.

“Anybody who opens the suitcase of weapons, may find himself very soon packing a suitcase and wandering back and forth between Tunisia and Baghdad as he did for many years,” said Justice Minister Tsahi Hanegbi, a close ally of the prime minister.

“We are going to hold Arafat responsible for any bloodshed that will either be exercised by his people or not prevented by his people,” Hanegbi told The Associated Press.

Palestinian Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein canceled a meeting with Hanegbi and said his statement “comes from an irresponsible man and what he said is disgraceful.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister David Levy expressed regret over Hanegbi’s statement. “There is no need to add fuel to the fire,” Levy told Israel Radio.

Anglican Church leaders, meanwhile, issued a statement Sunday accusing Israel of violating peace agreements by planning to build the housing project.

“We have expressed our concern over the Israeli government’s plan to construct a new development at Har Homa … and see this as a violation of the Oslo Accords and a threat to the peace process,” the statement said.

The Most Rev. George Carey and the 38 other leading bishops and archbishops of the Church of England were in Jerusalem for a biennial conference on global issues affecting the church.

Carey is the archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide, including American Episcopalians.