Israel Matzav

State Department: 'Settlement freeze' includes Jerusalem

In case you had any doubts, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly made it official on Monday in an interview with the Jerusalem Post: The Obama administration demand for a 'settlement freeze' includes the eastern part of Jerusalem.

"We're talking about all settlement activity, yes, in the area across the line," he said, referring to neighborhoods in Jerusalem over the Green Line, or pre-1967 armistice line, in response to a question on where America's calls to halt construction in the settlements would be applied.

Even so, Kelly had no immediate reaction to the Ministry of Housing and Construction's inclusion in the draft 2009-10 state budget of funds for the capital's Jewish Har Homa neighborhood or for one in the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.

The ministry has earmarked more than NIS 200 million for the preparatory work and marketing of 1,210 apartments in the east Jerusalem Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa.

...

The Obama administration had not officially clarified its position on Jewish neighborhoods over the Green Line but within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries, but the Netanyahu government had been working under the assumption that US officials' call to halt even natural growth in the settlements did not refer to neighborhoods in the city, according to high-placed government officials.

Kelly's comments Monday, however, made clear that Jerusalem was included, suggesting that efforts to finesse the disagreement could be further complicated.

And 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen, dissatisfied with what he sees as insufficient American pressure on Israel to stop building in the 'settlements,' decided on Monday to release hundreds of Hamas detainees from 'Palestinian' jails.

The decision is aimed at paving the way for the resumption of reconciliation talks between Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas, the officials said.

They added that the move was also meant as a message to the US and Israel to the effect that the PA leadership was deeply disappointed by Washington's failure to force the Israeli government to stop construction in the settlements and accept the two-state solution unconditionally.

Azzam al-Ahmed, a top Fatah legislator closely associated with Abbas, said the PA president had instructed the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank to start releasing Hamas detainees in the coming days.

He said the instructions also related to those detainees who were arrested for security offenses, on condition that they didn't pose a threat to public order and security.

Ahmed, who was a member of the Fatah team during the previous reconciliation talks with Hamas, confirmed that the decision was linked to Abbas's desire to patch up his differences with the Islamist group.

Fatah apparently holds about 700 Hamas detainees who have not been tried.

But Hamas says it's all a distraction, and although Fatah released about 20 Hamas detainees over the weekend, Hamas says that they arrested 39 more.

Fatah wants Hamas to release Fatah detainees in Gaza in response to this 'goodwill gesture.'

This could actually come back to bite Fatah if the Hamas detainees return to terrorist behavior and attack Fatah. As to the 'freeze,' hell will freeze over before a Likud-led government will agree to a freeze in Jerusalem. Obama might have been able to get a freeze from a government led by Ehud Olmert or Tzipi Livni, but he won't get one from a government led by Binyamin Netanyahu and certainly not from THIS government.

With Iran falling apart at the seams and with its nuclear weapons program hanging in the balance, the Obumbler is still worried about how many apartments Jews are building in Jewish suburbs in Jerusalem.

What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:03 PM