US and EU condemn plan for settlement expansion in E. Jerusalem
The settlement of Ramat Shlomo, E. Jerusalem and outlined, in red, the planned area of new settler build. The extension is to the south east (north is the top left-hand corner). The lower red line shows the boundary between E. Jerusalem (left and above) and W. Jerusalem, right.
New E. J’lem homes ‘damaging, disappointing,’ US says
As new Israeli government takes shape, State Department concerned about green light for building 900 units in Ramat Shlomo
By AFP and Times of Israel staff
May 08, 2015
Washington on Thursday called Israel’s approval of building 900 apartment units in a Jewish neighbourhood of East Jerusalem “damaging and inconsistent” with its commitment to a two-state solution.
The condemnation of the move by the State Department came less than a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the formation of a new governing coalition.
“This is a disappointing development, and we’re concerned about it just as a new Israeli government has been announced,” US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said at a press briefing. “Israel’s leaders have asserted that they remain committed to a two-state solution, and we need to see that commitment in the actions of… the Israeli government.”
Rathke said that the US government would “continue to make our position clear that we view this as illegitimate.”
The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee on Wednesday approved the commencement of building 900 of 1,800 apartment units slated for the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, situated over the Green Line in East Jerusalem.
Plans to build 1,600 homes in Ramat Shlomo were first announced in 2010 while US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting the country. The announcement provoked fierce American opposition and triggered a diplomatic spat with Washington for months.
The new homes will be built in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ramat Shlomo, Peace Now spokeswoman Hagit Ofran told AFP. “They’ve approved the request, and now they’re allowed to build.”
However, an Interior Ministry spokesperson downplayed the significance of the committee decision, telling The Times of Israel that it was a technicality concerned with the stages of development of the project that had been previously limited to 500 units until an access road junction was completed. Following the decision, the limit was raised to 900.
“These are not new apartments,” the ministry spokesperson said. “It is a project that was approved years ago.”
In November 2013, the plan passed a further stage of approval but construction was held up because the planning committee said new roads must be built first, Peace Now said.
“The plan [for 900 units] has been approved. even though they don’t have the roads,” Ofran said.
Israel effectively annexed East Jerusalem after capturing it in 1967 and says it retains the right to build in any part of the capital, though housing announcements often draw international and Palestinian condemnations.
In early October, Washington leveled especially harsh criticism at Jerusalem for a plan to develop a new neighborhood in the area of Givat Hamatos on the southern end of the city, saying the East Jerusalem construction would “poison the atmosphere” and distance Israel “from even its closest allies.”
US President Barack Obama’s administration has had a cold relationship with Netanyahu, notably over continued construction over the Green Line, a move that the international community views as a major obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.
In his reelection campaign in March, Netanyahu vowed to step up construction in East Jerusalem.
The move was authorized as Netanyahu was in the final stages of piecing together a coalition government that will include the right-wing Jewish Home, which strongly backs settlement construction and opposes a Palestinian state.