Israel Matzav

Netanyahu suspends Jerusalem construction

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone, and Chodesh tov, a good month too.

In a bid to avoid problems with President Obama while he is in Washington, Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered all Jewish housing construction in 'east' Jerusalem and all approvals for Jewish construction in 'east' Jerusalem to be suspended until his return to Israel.

The prime minister has instructed the Housing Ministry to freeze major building tenders in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the 67 borders, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday. At this stage there are 1,575 units on the market – 950 in Gilo and 625 in Pisgat Ze'ev.

In addition, the Interior Ministry's planning commissions have been instructed not to carry out any "surprise" moves in the near future and entrepreneurs who have submitted construction plans for Jerusalem neighborhoods outside the 67 border were surprised to hear that for now at least, their meetings have been postponed "for political reasons."

Netanyahu is trying to avoid making any Israeli move that might anger the US government during his stay in Washington – in light of the previous embarrassing incidents chief among them – the approval of a construction plan for 1,600 apartments in Ramat Shlomo during US Vice President Jo Biden's visit in Israel.

On Wednesday, the US State Department said that Israel's settlement activity was not "constructive" for Middle East peace after a committee approved a plan for 500 new homes in the northern West Bank.

Earlier, Israel's Civil Administration approved the construction of 505 new housing units and legalized 190 units previously built in the West Bank settlement of Shilo.

The Defense Ministry has also said that no further construction can be done in Judea and Samaria without its approval - and that it's not granting approval anytime soon.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:20 PM