The Obama Administration’s mandate of a settlement will include any Jewish construction projects in East Jerusalem, according to U.S. officials cited in various news reports. The clarification comes amidst plans to transform a hotel in predominantly Palestinian East Jerusalem into apartments for Jews. Protestors rallied yesterday to show opposition to the construction project. Opposition to construction in East Jerusalem stems from the belief that increased Jewish presence would force the entirety of the city into a Jewish state pending a two-state solution to the crisis.
Netanyahu fired back sharply in the weekly cabinet meeting by comparing the U.S. stance to an effective ban on Jews. He said,
“United Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people in the State of Israel, and our sovereignty over the city is not subject to appeal… Our policy is that Jerusalem residents can purchase apartments anywhere in the city. This has been the policy of all Israeli governments. There is no ban on Arabs buying apartments in the west of the city, and there is no ban on Jews building or buying in the city’s east. This is the policy of an open city…. I can imagine what would happen if someone proposed that Jews could not live or buy in certain neighborhoods of London, New York, Paris or Rome. A huge international outcry would surely ensue. It is even more impossible to agree to such an edict in East Jerusalem.”
The United States has repeatedly stressed that a solution to Jerusalem would occur only as a final status issue in order to prevent division of the city from interfering with preliminary peace talks.
Photo taken from Ma’an News.
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