JERUSALEM — Israel pushed ahead with aggressive new settlement building on Wednesday, brushing aside a growing chorus of international opposition, including criticism by its Western allies, that the move threatened to destroy the peace process with the Palestinians.
The Housing Ministry put out tenders for 1,000 housing units in the West Bank, while the city of Jerusalem approved 2,610 units in Givat Hamatos, a new neighborhood in an area annexed after the 1967 war.
The actions came after 1,500 controversial units in the northern Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo were approved Monday and 500 others in Givat Hamatos on Tuesday. Another 1,000 units, in Gilo, are expected to move forward Thursday, in what experts said was the most activity in years in the areas known collectively as East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as their future capital.
While all these projects have long been planned, their advancement is part of Israel’s retribution for the lopsided vote at the United Nations last month that upgraded the Palestinians’ status to a nonmember observer state. The developments in Givat Hamatos, which would be the first new neighborhood in Jerusalem in more than a decade, and in an area east of Jerusalem called E1 — which Israel also promised to move forward after the United Nations vote — are widely seen as threats to the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“This gravely threatens efforts to establish a viable Palestinian state,” Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, said at his year-end news conference at its New York headquarters on Wednesday. “I call on Israel to refrain from continuing on this dangerous path, which will undermine the prospects for a resumption of dialogue and a peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis alike. Let us get the peace process back on track before it is too late.”
All members of the United Nations Security Council except the United States issued statements Wednesday condemning the construction, underlining the isolation that Israel has felt since the Nov. 29 vote in New York where all of Europe except the Czech Republic either supported the Palestinian upgrade or abstained.
“We call on the Israeli government to rescind these plans,” said the statement issued by Israeli allies Britain, France, Germany and Portugal, saying the actions “send a negative message and are undermining faith in its willingness to negotiate.”
“Settlements are illegal under international law and detrimental to any international efforts to restart peace negotiations and secure a two-state solution,” it said. “All settlement activity, including in East Jerusalem, must cease immediately.”
While the United States did not sign on to the statements by fellow Security Council members, a State Department spokeswoman said Tuesday that the settlement activity put peace “further at risk.”
But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed unbowed by the growing criticism. Earlier Wednesday, he told the ambassadors from several Asian nations that his government would continue to build across Jerusalem — as did its predecessors.
“Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for 3,000 years,” he said, according to a statement released by his office. “I want you to ask any of you to imagine that you would limit construction in your own capital. It doesn’t make sense. And I think that for us, the important thing is that we are committed to our capitals; we’re committed to peace; and we’re going to build in Jerusalem for all its residents.”
Mark Regev, Mr. Netanyahu’s spokesman, said only the 1,000 tenders issued by the Housing Ministry — in six different West Bank settlements — were part of the 3,000 units promised Nov. 30 as part of Israel’s response to the Palestinians’ upgraded status. The others actions were planning and zoning moves, Mr. Regev noted, part of what he described as “a bureaucratic process that takes years to complete.”
Rejecting Criticism, Israel Forges Ahead on Settlements
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Rejecting Criticism, Israel Forges Ahead on Settlements
