Premier, Jerusalem officials at odds over building project

JERUSALEM, July 27 (JTA) — The timing for building a new Jewish neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem is not “fortuitous.” This was the description that aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave to the new project in the predominantly Arab Ras al- Amud neighborhood in Jerusalem, a move that Palestinian officials threatened could lead to violence. Netanyahu this week pledged to block the start any time soon of the project, and he was quick to convey via an aide to Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat that he did not intend to move ahead with construction. Netanyahu was responding to the disclosure that Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert had authorized building permits for the construction of some 70 housing units on a plot of land purchased by American philanthropist Dr. Irving Moskowitz. Netanyahu apparently learned of the plan July 24, after it had been approved by the Jerusalem Planning Commission. While stressing that the government was firmly committed to building in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said at Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting that the project’s timing was inappropriate. Most of the ministers supported his view. National Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon, Transport Minister Yitzhak Levy and Agriculture Minister Rafael Eitan dissented. The Palestinians broke off negotiations in mid-March after Israel began construction of a new Jewish neighborhood at Har Homa in southeastern Jerusalem. The Palestinians have demanded a halt to building in eastern Jerusalem as a condition for restarting the negotiations. Palestinian leaders warned over the weekend that construction in Ras al-Amud would effectively end the peace process. Netanyahu admitted that the project was legal, but he directed Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein to examine what authority the government had to stop the project. Netanyahu said during Sunday’s Cabinet session that decisions to build in Jerusalem must be taken by the government in an orderly fashion. Moskowitz, a Miami-based millionaire businessman, gave strong backing to the opening of a new entrance to an archaeological tunnel near the Temple Mount, a move that sparked three days of Palestinian rioting last September in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He also has invested in real estate at Har Homa and financed a yeshiva on the Mount of Olives. Moskowitz said this week that he was determined to build in Ras al-Amud, brushing off remarks by Olmert and the Prime Minister’s Office that the developer would not go ahead with the project immediately. Moskowitz said any governmental decision to stop him was “racist.” “I bought this land with my own money, and any discussion of whether I can build there or not is ridiculous,” Moskowitz told Israel Army Radio. “It’s not a political question. It’s a question of a person’s right to build on his property. To deny it because I am Jewish and the Arabs oppose this, is racist.” Palestinian official Nabil Sha’ath welcomed Netanyahu’s position on the matter, but said it was not enough. Sha’ath, who serves as the Palestinian Authority’s planning minister, said that the Israeli government must translate its declarations into a move to cancel the project altogether — and to use this as an example to freeze all settlement activity. Meanwhile, Israeli officials were quoted Sunday as saying that the United States was working on a new initiative to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Palestinian officials said they will reject any initiative that does not include a clear statement calling for a halt to all Israeli settlement activity. The Palestinian information minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said this week that the Clinton administration had still not come up with a cohesive plan for restarting the talks.