Jerusalem municipality announces settlement project

[subsuelo]

Israel's Jerusalem municipality announced plans on Monday to build 600 new housing units in a Jewish settlement, in an area of the occupied West Bank the Israeli government considers part of the holy city.

The decision to build within the settlement of Pisgat Zeev coincided with a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is trying to bolster peace talks in which Israeli settlement activities have caused friction with Palestinians.

Commenting on the project, Rice said at a news conference in Amman: "We continue to state America's position that settlement activity should stop, that its expansion should stop -- that it is indeed not consistent with 'road map' obligations."

Rice was referring to a long-stalled, U.S.-backed peace plan that calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity in the West Bank and obliges Palestinians to rein in militants.

Asked about the proposed new construction in Pisgat Zeev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: "I am not aware of it."

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[number6]

1. yea right ......

:hide:

"We continue to state America's position that settlement activity should stop"

[azurnoir]

2. Rice:

we will continue to mouth words and give arms.

[bemildred]

3. Jerusalem council okays 600 new Jewish homes in Arab area

The municipality of Jerusalem on Monday approved the construction of 600 new homes in Pisgat Zeev, east of the Green Line.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski approved the expansion in Pisgat Zeev - a Jewish settlement surrounded by Arab towns in the West Bank - as part of a plan to construct 40,000 more homes in the area as foreign interest drives property prices up.

Also Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised the spiritual leader of the Shas Party, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, that he would authorize construction on "Jerusalem envelope" lands which have been thus far frozen, sources from the ultra-Orthodox Party said. "The Prime Minister promised Rabbi unequivocally that the construction in all the Jerusalem envelope communities will not be hindered and will be unfrozen without delay," sources from the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party said.

The sources added that the rabbi had made clear to Olmert "with conviction" that the issue of construction in the ultra-Orthodox towns in Arab areas surrounding Jerusalem "are Shas' top priority," and that he will ask party chairman Eli Yishai to continue updating him on the matter.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/970234.html

[bemildred]

4. Settlement plans eclipse Rice talks

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has reiterated calls for a halt to settlement construction as Israel announced plans to build up to 1,400 new homes on occupied Palestinian land.

Her comments came after meeting Palestinian and Israeli negotiators in Jordan on Monday during a three-day trip aimed at bolstering US-backed peace talks.

Speaking at a news conference alongside Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, Rice said: "We continue to state America's position that settlement activity should stop ... that it is indeed not consistent with 'road map' obligations."

The US-sponsored "road map to peace" set out in 2003 calls on Israel to halt all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and obliges Palestinians to rein in armed groups.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C0BC29EE-6295-4174-B6FF-405A4B99430F.htm