The 900 housing units are in Gilo, an area considered by Israel to be a neighborhood of Jerusalem and by the Palestinians and much of the world to be a settlement that violates international law. Israel claims sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, having annexed the eastern part after capturing it from Jordan in the 1967 war. – Plan to Expand Jewish Area in Jerusalem Angers U.S.
Neighborhood of Jerusalem v. settlement, that’s the size of the latest divide.
As Laura Rozen rightly points out, these types of statements have often come from State.
The latest one did not, which I received after 2:00 p.m. today.
Statement by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the Approval of Settlement Expansion in Jerusalem
We are dismayed at the Jerusalem Planning Committee’s decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem. At a time when we are working to re-launch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed. Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations. The U.S. also objects to other Israeli practices in Jerusalem related to housing, including the continuing pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes. Our position is clear: the status of Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved through negotiations between the parties.
Americans for Peace Now reviewed Netanyahu’s recent settlement move as going “nuclear,” but also causing a “head-on collision with the Obama administration over Jerusalem.” They’ve also got the background on Gilo, which is considered a settlement, though don’t tell the Israelis, because they’ve conveniently forgotten this fact.
Spencer Ackerman has more, including that the White House website has now softened the original statement, excluding the word “settlement”: Statement by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Jerusalem.
Guess the White House caught the Jerusalem neighborhood v. settlement bug. For the rest of us, Gilo is simply a settlement. This latest development anything but good news.
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