JERUSALEM — The government of Israel said Sunday that it had approved the construction of hundreds of homes in a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, a move that could further complicate a peace effort already hobbled by violence.
The announcement slightly eased pressure on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from the right wing in his government, particularly after a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem fatally shot eight students, most of them teenagers, at a prestigious Jewish seminary in western Jerusalem on Thursday.
But the move occurred days before an American envoy, Lt. Gen. William M. Fraser III, was expected to arrive in the region for the first three-party meeting with Israelis and Palestinians on fulfillment of obligations under the 2003 peace plan called the road map.
The plan calls for the Palestinians to halt all violence and for the Israelis to cease all settlement construction, including building meant to accommodate “natural growth.”
The construction project in question, in the Givat Zeev settlement, was approved in 1999, but the developers stopped building for commercial reasons with the outbreak of the intifada in 2000. The developers recently asked to resume the project because of “the relative quiet and the rise in demand for apartments in Jerusalem and its environs,” the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing said Sunday in a statement.
Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, condemned the decision, saying it indicated that Israel “wants to demolish the peace process and demolish the international efforts to advance” it.
The Housing Ministry has also announced plans to build hundreds of dwellings in Jewish areas of East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians claim all of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
In an effort to impose more control over construction in the settlements, Mr. Olmert wrote to government ministers in December saying that his and the defense minister’s authorization would be required for any new building in the West Bank. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Mr. Olmert, said authorization for the Givat Zeev project was granted “because it is consistent with our policy.”
Mr. Regev said Israel never intended to halt construction in East Jerusalem or in West Bank settlements like Givat Zeev that are in settlement blocs Israel intends to keep under any future agreement with the Palestinians.
“This should not come as a surprise to anyone,” Mr. Regev said of the announcement, “not to the Americans and not to the Palestinians either.”
The religious Shas Party, a right-leaning coalition partner that has threatened to quit the Olmert government, had demanded an official go-ahead for the construction in Givat Zeev, seeing it as a crucial test of government intentions.
Givat Zeev was “the most classic example” of a settlement project that had been frozen despite having gained earlier approval, said Ariel Atias, the Shas minister of communications, in a telephone interview on Sunday. “I am happy that wisdom prevailed,” he said.
The government decision also was announced amid reports in the Israeli news media of a deal between the Defense Ministry and settler representatives on the removal of a number of illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank in exchange for more construction in the settlement blocs.
But settler leaders vehemently denied any such deal and accused the Defense Ministry of leaking the report, which they called a “lie” and a political “spin.”
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, suspended peace talks with Israel last week after an Israeli Army air and ground operation against rocket launchers and Hamas militants in Gaza left more than 120 Palestinians dead. Mr. Abbas and Mr. Olmert have since said they intended to resume the talks.
In Jerusalem, though, tensions simmered after the attack Thursday, with Jewish fury focusing on the fact that the family of the gunman, Ala Abu Dhaim, 25, who was killed at the scene, was allowed to receive visitors in a mourning tent.
“It’s a scandal,” said Mr. Atias, the Shas minister. “They are dancing on our blood.”
Half a dozen right-wing extremists, some from the Jewish settlement in Hebron, gathered Sunday morning near Jebel Mukaber, the Palestinian village in East Jerusalem where Mr. Abu Dhaim had lived, and called for revenge.
They threatened to enter the village to disrupt the mourning tent, but as soon as they headed in that direction, police officers detained them.
At the Abu Dhaim home, the flags of Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah that were flying Friday had been removed by Sunday, on police orders. But posters describing Mr. Abu Dhaim as a martyr who had carried out a “heroic act” were still hanging in the courtyard of the family home and elsewhere in the village.
Dozens of men were in the tent at midday as half a dozen heavily armed police officers barged in and handed the gunman’s father, Hisham Abu Dhaim, a summons.
Unshaven and drawn, he told reporters that he had been surprised by his son’s attack. A chief of the family clan, Ibrahim Abu Dhaim, read a brief statement saying that only he was authorized to comment on the family’s behalf. He neither praised nor condemned the attack, but described Ala as a “well-mannered” man who was engaged to be married and who had not previously shown any unusual behavior.
It was still unclear whether any group was behind the attack. A police spokesman said eight men were being held for questioning, but he would not give any details about their identities.
Separately, an Israeli soldier died Sunday from wounds sustained in a bomb attack on Thursday by Palestinian militants along the Gaza border. Another soldier died in that attack, bringing the number of soldiers killed on active duty to four this year, the army said.
Topic: Israel Approves Home Building in West Bank - New York Times (Read 2783 times)