Netanyahu’ plans for 1,000 new settler homes in East Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will expedite planning for some 1,000 settler homes in East Jerusalem, a government official said on Monday, in a bid to placate a restive coalition ally without further aggravating a dispute with Washington. The ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party, led by Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, has been issuing veiled threats to sever its political partnership with Netanyahu unless he agrees to its call for 2,000 new building tenders in settlements in the occupied West Bank. But Netanyahu, just hours before the opening of parliament’s winter session, sidestepped the demand. Palestinians warned the move would likely to trigger an “explosion” of violence.

The Israelification of east Jerusalem is the most provocative act for us as Palestinians, as Muslims, as Christians, as Arabs.

Jibril Rajoub, a senior member of Abbas’s Fatah faction

Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its “indivisible and eternal” capital, a claim that is not recognized internationally, and says Jews have the right to live anywhere in the city. The European Union has asked for clarification of Israel’s plans, said EU foreign policy spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic, and if the expansion is confirmed, “it will call once again into serious question Israel’s commitment to a negotiated solution with the Palestinians. Israel’s settlement policy was one of the main reasons for the collapse of the latest US-led round of peace talks in April, prompting the Palestinians to push ahead with diplomatic plans to seek international recognition.

We could not but condemn such an ill-judged and ill-timed decision … and we call for the urgent reversal of this decision.

EU foreign policy spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic

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