News: Construction in East Jerusalem; New UNIFIL rules in Lebanon

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20 July 2009

Netanyahu backs East Jerusalem housing construction despite US Opposition

On Sunday Israeli media reported that the the US State Department summoned Ambassador Michael Oren last week and demanded that Israel not proceed with a plan to build 20 apartments in the mainly Arab East Jerusalem area site of the Shepherd Hotel, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu defied the US demands to suspend construction and sparked what Washington called "intense" negotiations between the allies.

Calling Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem indisputable, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as telling his cabinet that Israel

cannot accept the idea that Jews will not have the right to live and purchase in all parts of Jerusalem... I can only imagine what would happen if someone would propose that Jews could not live in certain neighborhoods of New York, London, Paris or Rome. There would certainly be a major international outcry. We cannot accept such a decree in Jerusalem.

Speaking on a visit to India on Sunday, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said Washington was trying to reach an agreement with Israel on settlements. Although Netanyahu recently yielded to US pressure to conditionally endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state, he has consistently resisted US demands for a total freeze on settlement expansion. Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Netanyahu government had gone public with the issue to try to pre-empt further American efforts to stop Jewish building in East Jerusalem. US Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, is expected in Israel within a week for more negotiations on the issue.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas responded by accusing Israel of destroying the Islamic and Christian character of Jerusalem. A statement published Monday by the official Wafa news agency quoted Abbas as telling Palestinians in Bethlehem that, "The holy city is today facing real dangers, while there are attempts to turn it into a full Jewish city by changing its Islamic and Christian landmarks." The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, told Israel Radio that instead of defending the Moskowitz development, Mr. Netanyahu should be preparing Israel to make peace. “He knows very well that there will never be peace between Palestinians and Israelis without East Jerusalem being the capital of the Palestinian state,” Mr. Erekat said.

Israel pushes for new UNIFIL Rules of Engagement after Rocket Explosion

Israel’s Defense Ministry is attempting to secure approval from the United Nations for new rules of engagement of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Southern Lebanon. Its aim for permission to search Lebanese villages without prior coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces. According to Ha'aretz, UNIFIL had precise information about the cache of Katyusha rockets that exploded in a southern Lebanese village last Tuesday including a number of other installations where Hezbollah is storing rockets, but that UNIFIL had done nothing. On Saturday it was reported that that area residents prevented UNIFIL soldiers from searching an abandoned building near the building that blew up last week, in which it is believed Hezbollah stored weapons, against UN Security Council resolution 1701. A crowd of approximately 100 residents attempted to impede the investigations of the explosion on Saturday in southern Lebanon. They threw rocks at U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese Armed Forces the United Nations reported. In response to the incident, UNIFIL spokesperson Yasmina Bouzaine said:

As the gathering grew, both UNIFIL and LAF deployed additional personnel on the ground in order to contain the situation, and prevent any further escalation…[it was] more of a demonstration than an attack.

A senior Israeli defense official said Sunday that "The discovery of the arms cache last week is solid proof of Hizbullah's illegal activities in southern Lebanon…We want rules of engagement that will allow UNIFIL to enter the villages without having to coordinate the operations ahead of time." A decision on the renewal and modification of UNIFIL's mandate is scheduled for late August in the UN Security Council.

MIDEAST: Settlers Grow and Advance