Israel in the Hot Seat Again — for Building Homes

P. David Hornik
Pajamasmedia.com
11 March '10

Here we go again. What has Israel done now? With Vice President Joe Biden here for a visit, the Israeli Interior Ministry “announced that approval had been granted to build new housing units in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox community of 20,000 north of downtown Jerusalem, which borders the Palestinian village of Shuafat.” Biden reacted to the shocking news with: “I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in east Jerusalem. The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of [Israeli-Palestinian] proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I’ve had here in Israel.”

Other condemnations followed like clockwork. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman made known that “the secretary-general condemns the approval of plans for the building of 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem.” Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that “it is now clear that the Israeli government is not interested in negotiating, nor is it interested in peace.” He added that “massive American pressure is required in order to compel Israel to abandon its peace-destroying behavior.”

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