[censored] Rice return Jerusalem to moslems

[mord]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517322280&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull   

In comments that threaten Israel's hold on east Jerusalem, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the US does not consider it legitimate for Israel to build homes in some neighborhoods of the capital which are located beyond the Green Line.


The east Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
In a conversation held in the ornate antechamber of her office, she went further than US officials have previously gone toward clarifying her government's position on the matter.

Her remarks set the stage for a confrontation over the issue when Rice and US President George W. Bush visit Israel this week and try to move the peace process forward.

Israel, which annexed east Jerusalem after the 1967 war, does not equate the capital's Jewish neighborhoods over the Green Line with the settlements located in the West Bank. As such, it does not believe that construction there is bound by its obligation under the road map peace plan, which calls for a freeze of all settlement activity.

RELATED
Israel will act 'expeditiously' on outposts
Rice talks tough on Iran, slams Egypt

But Rice on Monday clarified that the US believes that portions of east Jerusalem are considered to be "settlements" and that Israel must stop building there as part of its commitment to implement the first phase of the road map.

Rice said "the United States doesn't make a distinction" between settlement activity in east Jerusalem and the West Bank and that the road map obligations are on "settlement activity generally." She was speaking during an interview conducted by the Post and Ynet ahead of her departure for the region.

Rice referred specifically to Jerusalem's Har Homa enclave as one such proscribed neighborhood.

"Har Homa is a settlement the United States has opposed from the very beginning," she said in response to a question from the Post.

When asked, she didn't, however, clarify whether other Jerusalem neighborhoods over the Green Line, such as Gilo and Ramot, were also settlements in the eyes of the United States. "The important point here is that we need to have an agreement so that we can stop having this discussion about what belongs to Israel and what doesn't," she said in response.

Her answer points to the longtime ambiguity in the US position towards construction in these neighborhoods, which is opposed by the Palestinians and many European countries. Traditionally the United States refrains from describing Jerusalem neighborhoods as "settlements," but the Bush administration has been particularly critical of recently announced building tenders in Har Homa.

Palestinian objections to the project, which was announced last month, have complicated nascent negotiations between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas over the contours of a Palestinian state, which Bush would like to see by the time he leaves office in one year.

Bush told Reuters last week that he considered settlements an "impediment" to peace.

Referring specifically to Har Homa, Rice said in early December, "We're in a time when the goal is to build maximum confidence between the parties and this doesn't help to build confidence."

Olmert has re-committed to Israel's road map obligations in the wake of the Annapolis peace conference formally launching negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, telling the Post in interview last week, "I have announced that the State of Israel will not build new settlements and will not confiscate land for this purpose, and I intend to keep the obligation."

However, he has also indicated that construction would proceed in Har Homa.

In an interview with the Post last week, Olmert spoke of Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, including the West Bank suburb of Ma'aleh Adumim, as integral parts of the city.

"Ma'aleh Adumim is an indivisible part of Jerusalem and the State of Israel. I don't think when people are talking about settlements they are talking about Ma'aleh Adumim."

That position now clearly puts him at odds with the United States' understanding of Israel's road map obligations. The US has said that it will be monitoring both sides' adherence to the road map as a part of the new negotiations, though the mechanism to do so has yet to be put in place.

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.

[Mstislav]

And this scatelle is actually going to be taken seriously?

[mord]

And this scatelle is actually going to be taken seriously?

No she's a fool just like olmert

[Mstislav]

And this scatelle is actually going to be taken seriously?

No she's a fool just like olmert