The Interior Ministry’s Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee
on Tuesday ratified an existing plan to build 1,600 housing units in the city’s
northeastern Ramat Shlomo neighborhood.
When the plans were disclosed in
March during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, they sparked a major row
with the US regarding building rights in sections of the capital that are
located over the Green Line. They were also seen as destabilizing the proximity
talks now taking place between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
It
remained unclear on Tuesday evening whether the move, which the ministry
said is
merely a technical procedure regarding an already-approved housing plan,
would
reignite tensions with US officials, who were quick to voice their
frustrations
with the plan three months ago. Their strong criticism, together with
pressure
that followed the announcement, are believed to have been among the main
factors
that led to the “de-facto freeze” that has brought nearly all
construction in
Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to a standstill.
Nonetheless – and
despite the Obama administration’s ongoing resistance to such
construction – the
planning committee convened on Tuesday and approved the Ramat Shlomo
protocol,
which effectively validates the building plan. The next phase in the
long
bureaucratic process will allow the public to register opposition to the
plan,
which could further delay the proceedings.
City Councilman Yair Gabai,
who is a member of the committee, told reporters on Tuesday that Prime
Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu had stalled further deliberations on the plan because
of the
presence in the region of US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, as per
his role
as mediator in the proximity talks. He added that the prime minister had
been
wary of “an additional crisis with the US.” Netanyahu told the US during
the
March crisis that despite the approval of the plan, the building would
not begin
for at least two years Gabai praised the plan as “the first in a series
of
essential developments that will add to the prosperity of Jerusalem,
help curb
emigration from the capital, and strengthen Israeli sovereignty in all
parts of
the city.”
But PA Minister of National Economy Hassan Abu Libda told The
Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that he saw the development as a resumption of
settlement activity.
“This is a breach of a commitment that was given to
the United States and the Quartet and the International community to
place a
moratorium on settlement activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem for
10
months,” Abu Libda said. “This is a direct breach and this is a very
serious
punch to the proximity talks.”
The minister added that such actions were
making it “more and more difficult” for the PA to convince its
constituency that
the proximity talks would bear fruit.
“I believe the issue of settlement
activities is very, very serious,” he said. “On the Israeli side it may
satisfy
I don’t know how many settlers, but on the Palestinian side it is
undermining,
in a strategic way, the ability of the PA to represent the interests of
the
Palestinian people, and the PA will not be able to continue business as
usual.”
Abu Libda stressed that the PA “condemn[ed]” the
development.
“We think it is counterproductive and contrary to the
interests of the two peoples,” he said, “and is going to harm the
possibility of
creating the required constructive environment to rebuild any kind of
trust that
will enable the resumption of direct talks.”