Israel's ambassador summoned & told Israel halt East Jerusalem settlment

Link

AP. here

"The U.S. has demanded that Israel suspend a planned housing project in east Jerusalem, senior Israeli officials said Sunday -- the latest sign of a deepening conflict between the two allies over Israeli settlements.

The officials confirmed that Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, was summoned to the State Department over the weekend and told that the project being developed by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz should not go ahead.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss with the media diplomatic flaps with the U.S.....

The international community considers Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be settlements and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.....

Moskowitz, an influential supporter of Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem, purchased the Shepherd Hotel in 1985 and plans to tear it down and build housing units in its place...."

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 3:30 AM


Jewish settlers to build new settlement called Obama Hilltop


[ 19/07/2009 - 08:23 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- A group of Jewish settlers are planning to rebuild a settlement in northern West Bank that was evacuated in 2005 and to name it after the new American president Barack Obama.

Settlers said that the new settlement would be named Obama Hilltop to counter Obama's opposition to the expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands.

Homesh settlement was evacuated at the orders of former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon in line with his unilateral withdrawal plan from the Gaza Strip and limited areas of the northern West Bank.

Leaders of those settlers have sent a message to Obama criticizing his pressure on Israel not to expand settlements.

Those settlers opened a website in which they ask visitors to donate 10 dollars to help rebuild Homesh.