Obama calls east Jerusalem construction plans 'unhelpful'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
LAST UPDATED: 11/09/2010 14:49
EU's Ashton "extremely concerned" at plan to build 1,345 units; PA negotiator Erekat calls on int'l community to counter Israel by recognizing Palestinian state.
Obama speaks at a press conference in Jakarta Photo: Associated Press
US President Barack Obama criticized Israel on Tuesday at a news conference in Indonesia, following Monday's announcement that Israel has advanced plans to build 1,345 homes in east
Jerusalem.
"This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations," Obama said during a visit to Jakarta.
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Also on Tuesday, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called on the international community to counter Israel's latest construction plans by recognizing a Palestinian state.
"Israeli unilateralism is a call for immediate international recognition of the Palestinian state," he said, according to a Reuters report.
Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton added her comments on the issue, saying she is "extremely concerned by the
announcement that Israel plans to go ahead with the construction of 1,300 new
housing units in east Jerusalem," in a statement.
"This plan contradicts the efforts by the international community to
resume direct negotiations and the decision should be reversed," the statement read.
The news that planning will go ahead for these housing units in
Har Homa and Ramot came on Monday as Prime Minister Netanyahu was in the US, and
under pressure to halt settlement construction in the West Bank and in
east Jerusalem.
Although the homes in question have not yet been fully authorized, they have
been approved by the local and district planning committees.
The
United States issued a swift official response to Monday's announcement, saying they were
“deeply disappointed” at the plans to build in “sensitive areas” of
east Jerusalem.
Referring to the stalled Israeli-Palestinian
talks, P.J. Crowley told reporters that the US views the announcement as
“counter productive to our efforts to resume direct negotiations
between the parties.”
“We have long urged both parties to avoid actions that could undermine
trust, including in Jerusalem, and we will continue to work to resume
negotiations,” Crowley said.
He added that the issue would be one
of the talking points when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets
in New York on Thursday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Jonah Mandel, Tovah Lazaroff and AP contributed to this report.