[Peace processes come and peace processes go, but the settlements go on and on . . .]
JERUSALEM (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had barely left
Israel on Monday after her latest peacekeeping mission when Israeli
officials announced plans to build 1,400 new homes on land
Palestinians claim for a future state.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to keep building in east Jerusalem
and the West Bank, dismissing Palestinian claims that construction on
contested land is the greatest obstacle to peace.
The disclosure of the construction plans immediately after Rice’s
visit demonstrated the intensity of the political pressures that
Olmert faces.
He continues to support construction in disputed areas, over the
objections of the Palestinians and the U.S., because it allows him to
keep his fragile coalition intact.
The Israeli construction plans threatened to make it even harder for
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to overcome his people’s
skepticism that diplomacy, not violence, would win them a state.
Rice arrived in the region on Saturday for three days of talks with
Israeli and Palestinian officials meant to advance the U.S. goal of
achieving a peace agreement before President Bush leaves office in
January 2009.
“I think it’s all moving in the right direction,” Rice said at a news
conference with Abbas in Jordan.
She also warned Israel to halt new settlement activities that could
upset progress.
“Settlement activity should stop — expansion should stop,” Rice said.
But two new construction projects were already being announced.
The city of Jerusalem said it planned to build 600 new apartments in
the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood, which lies in the eastern sector of
Jerusalem that Palestinians see as their future capital.
The Shas Party, a powerful partner in Olmert’s coalition government,
said the prime minister had promised to revive frozen plans to build
800 homes in Beitar Illit, an ultra-Orthodox settlement in the West
Bank.
“There are more on the way,” party spokesman Roi Lachmanovitch said.
Without Shas, Olmert would lose his parliamentary majority, so he
soft-pedals attempts to make territorial concessions — especially
where Jerusalem is concerned.
Earlier in the day, Olmert pledged that Israel would build in east
Jerusalem and heavily Jewish areas of the West Bank — land Israel
expects to keep in a final peace agreement.
“This is going on within the framework of negotiations, and the
negotiations will continue to progress,” he said.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the construction plans
and appealed to the Americans to intervene. “This announcement is
changing the situation on the ground for the worse,” Erekat said.
East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed by Israel
shortly afterward, is home to 180,000 Jews, who live in neighborhoods
built after the war. Because of the annexation, Israel does not
consider construction there to be settlement activity, but the
Palestinians and the international community do, because no one has
recognized Israel’s annexation.
An additional 270,000 Jews live in West Bank settlements, most of them
in three major blocs.
A recent poll showed that Abbas’ popularity has been battered, in part
by the Israeli construction. Removing restrictions on movement for
Palestinians in the West Bank is one confidence-building measure that
could prop him up.
On Monday, Israel took down one of the 50 West Bank roadblocks it
pledged to remove during Rice’s visit. Israel maintains more than 500
checkpoints and roadblocks, saying they are necessary security
measures. The Palestinians say the travel restrictions are excessive
and have crushed their economy.
A Palestinian who tried to stab Israeli hitchhikers near a West Bank
Jewish settlement was shot and killed by one of them, police spokesman
Micky Rosenfeld said, calling the shooting self-defense.