More Violence Feared Over Israeli Housing Project

Defying world opinion and risking a violent new confrontation with Palestinians, Israeli bulldozers Tuesday broke ground for a Jewish housing project on a pine-covered hill at the edge of Arab East Jerusalem.

The bulldozers, which began work in the early afternoon surrounded by a blue-and-green sea of Israeli police and soldiers, threw a new obstacle in the way of the already troubled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

“It is a black day for the peace process,” said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

Until the last moment, Palestinians had hoped the Israelis would delay or even cancel the project, which has been condemned by the U.N. General Assembly and the United States, among many others. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear Tuesday that the project had somehow become a crucial, defining issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - a challenge, in fact - and that Israel was not about to “surrender” on an issue involving its sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu also made it clear that even though Tuesday’s groundbreaking was relatively quiet, he believes serious violence is still likely. Indeed, he went so far as to charge that Arafat, who has publicly called on Palestinians to refrain from violence, had privately loosened the reins on Hamas and other militant organizations.

“Our intelligence shows very clearly, unmistakably, that the Palestinian leadership has given the green light to the worst terrorist organizations on earth to go ahead with the kind of bus bombings, the kind of suicide attacks, the kind of mass killings that brought a halt to the peace process,” Netanyahu told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

In Washington, D.C., State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns rejected that accusation, saying he had seen no evidence that Arafat had approved violence. In fact, Burns said the United States has assurances from Arafat that “he stands against violence.”

In advance of the groundbreaking, Israel positioned thousands of soldiers around the city and warned of an expected terrorist attack. The Palestinian Authority put its hospitals on high alert, suggesting they should be prepared to receive large numbers of riot victims.

In the early afternoon, two yellow Caterpillar bulldozers and a backhoe appeared around the bend of the road near the project site. A few minutes later, each was surrounded by hundreds of Israeli soldiers as it began tearing up the ground, clearing land for access roads. Half a dozen surveyors did last-minute measuring.