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Rice points, Olmert obeys.
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| By Dr. Aaron Lerner December 23, 2007 |
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 Bookmark to del.icio.us |
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| Rainbow over Maaleh Adumim. |
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Nava Stoler and Hagai Huberman report in today's edition of Makor Rishon from Ministry of Housing sources that minister of housing Ze'ev Boim last week ordered to stop a tender that was to be published then by the Israel Lands Authority regarding the construction of some 120 additional housing units on Har Homa.
Boim's orders were issued in the wake of explicit instructions from prime minister Ehud Olmert to postpone the tender. Officially the tender is being postponed until after President Bush's January visit, but, according to Stoler and Huberman, in Jerusalem it is expected that the delay will also continue after the Bush visit.
Boim's office told Makor Rishon that "there are no delays in anything relating to Har Homa construction."
The postponement comes as the Associated Press reports that Israel has expanded plans to build new homes in greater Jerusalem, according to the Housing Ministry's proposed budget for 2008.
The funding for the construction of 500 apartments in Har Homa as well as 240 apartments in the nearby settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. Israel has made clear that it intends to hold on to Ma'aleh Adumim, home to more than 30,000 residents.
Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Rafi Eitan, in an interview with Army Radio, declared that "Ma'aleh Adumim is an integral part of Jerusalem in any peace accord." He said that Israel never promised to halt construction within the municipal borders of Jerusalem, including the eastern sector Israel which annexed in 1967 after capturing it in the Six Day War. "Har Homa is an integral, organic part of Jerusalem," he added. "No promise was ever given to anyone that we wouldn't continue to build in Har Homa."
Further confusion in the ranks of the Olmert government was evident late last week.
Housing Minister Boim said his ministry was looking into building a new Jewish neighborhood with 10,000 apartments in Atarot in northern Jerusalem to ease a housing crunch in the city. "The Housing Ministry must provide a solution to the housing shortage in Jerusalem," Boim said.
A member of Olmert's Kadima Party, he acknowledged the timing was sensitive, but said that was no reason to freeze his office's activities. "The sensitivity is understood, but we must say that unfortunately since Jerusalem was declared Israel's capital there has been no time without similar sensitivities," Boim said. "My opinion is that our sovereignty over Jerusalem can't be divided," he said in a separate interview with Army Radio.
That was on Wednesday.
But on Thursday, Boim said he rejected the idea of building the neighborhood when it was brought before him, something he didn't mention Wednesday when talking to media.
"The subject of a possible exploration [of the plan] was brought before me, but I suggested that we drop it," he told Israel Radio.
According to spokesman Eran Sidis, the plan to develop a large neighborhood in Atarot was only one of several options presented to Boim. "This obviously was ruled out, because of the sensitive nature of the peace talks," Sidis told reporters. "We wouldn't even dream of doing it," he said. We ruled it out categorically." At least not on Thursday.
Both Olmert and Foreign Ministress Livni claimed they were unaware of building plans in Har Homa and in Atarot.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei said Friday that Israel must halt all settlement building before final status talks launched last month can continue in earnest. |
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