Israeli PM says Jerusalem policy will not change
Posted on Friday, March 26, 2010
The Israeli prime minister says his policy on Jerusalem will not change - a sign that a row with the US over settlement building remains unresolved.
Benjamin Netanyahu's statement came as he prepared to brief senior cabinet colleagues on the talks with President Barack Obama. The US has not commented.
The row centres on Israeli plans to build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital. They say they will not take part in US-mediated peace talks.
Israel insists the city will remain its undivided capital.
Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
They are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
Trappings withheld
The row over Israel's plans for homes in East Jerusalem has caused one of the worst crises in US-Israeli ties for decades.
Israel unveiled the plans to build in the East Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo during a visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden - a move which Washington initially branded an insult.
 | TIMELINE: ISRAEL-US ROW 9 Mar: Israel announces the building of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem during visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden. Mr Biden condemns the move 11 Mar: Mr Biden says there must be no delay in resuming Mid-East peace talks, despite the row 12 Mar: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Israeli move is "deeply negative" for relations 15 Mar: The US says it is waiting for a "formal response" from Israel to its proposals to show it is committed to Mid-East peace 16 Mar: The US envoy to the Mid-East postpones a visit to Israel 17 Mar: President Obama denies there is a crisis with Israel 22 Mar: Hillary Clinton tells pro-Israel lobby group Aipac Israel has to make "difficult but necessary choices" if it wants peace with Palestinians. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tells Aipac Israel has a "right to build" in Jerusalem 23 Mar: Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu meet behind closed doors with no media access 23 Mar: Jerusalem municipal government approves building of 20 new homes in East Jerusalem 24 Mar: Mr Netanyahu ends Washington trip talking of a "golden" solution amid US silence  |
Mr Netanyahu met President Barack Obama on Tuesday and held further talks on Wednesday with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
The White House has been trying to persuade Mr Netanyahu to commit to several trust-building measures to revive hopes for indirect "proximity talks" between Israel and the Palestinians.
Scant information on the content of Mr Netanyahu's talks with US officials has emerged and rarely has so little been said about such high-level meetings, lasting so long, between the US and one of its closest allies, says the BBC's Richard Lister in Washington.
Israeli sources quoted by Reuters news agency said Mr Netanyahu could not finalise any confidence-building measures until he presented them to his cabinet.
Minutes before Mr Netanyahu's visit to the White House on Tuesday, it emerged the Jerusalem municipal government had approved another development.
Twenty apartments are to be built by a Jewish-American property developer on the site of an old hotel in the predominantly Arab neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington said Mr Netanyahu did not get the reception usually reserved for America's allies.
There was no press conference and no lavish welcome.
It all signals that the US is playing tough, making clear it is upset with the Israeli government, says our correspondent.
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