NGO list shows how plans stand after latest settlement announcement brought Palestinian peace talks to halt
[PHOTO: US vice-president Joe Biden speaking at Tel Aviv University today, where he moderated his earlier criticism of Israel. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images]
Israeli authorities are considering plans for at least another 8,000 homes in settlements in East Jerusalem, it emerged today, despite the latest collapse in proposed peace talks with the Palestinians.
US vice-president Joe Biden, who earlier condemned Israel for approving plans to build hundreds of new settler homes, took a more conciliatory tone in a speech today, urging Israel and the Palestinians to restart direct peace negotiations.
"The only path though to finally resolving the permanent status issues, including borders, security, refugees and Jerusalem, are direct talks," he said. He also moderated his earlier criticism of Israel, saying the US had "no better friend".
Hagit Ofran, a settlement expert at Israeli group Peace Now, compiled a list of planned East Jerusalem settlements that are at one of the several stages of approval. She counted 8,253 proposed homes, including the 1,600 new homes announced on Tuesday for the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Ramat Shlomo.
After the latest approval this week, Palestinian leaders promptly pulled out of a new round of indirect "proximity" talks with Israel that the US administration had spent months setting up.
The 10 numbered plans Ofran has identified, some of which are years from construction, are in East Jerusalem settlements including Givat Hamatos, Pisgat Ze'ev, Neve Ya'acov, Gilo and Ramot. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published a similar list of 19 plans, identifying 7,038 housing units awaiting approval.
Another newspaper, Ha'aretz, said as many as 50,000 homes - nearly all in Jewish settlements - were in various stages of planning and approval for east Jerusalem, citing planning officials. The paper said the city's construction plans for the coming years focused on east Jerusalem because a plan to expand west had been cancelled three years ago.
Israel regards East Jerusalem, which it captured in the 1967 war, as sovereign territory and the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has spoken frequently in defence of Jewish settlement there. But the international community does not recognise Israeli sovereignty and settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law. Palestinian officials say they will not return to direct peace talks unless all settlement-building is stopped, a demand also made last year by the US administration. Netanyahu has ordered only a temporary, partial curb on construction.
Yesterday, Netanyahu gave his interior minister, Eli Yishai, a dressing down about the timing of the Ramat Shlomo plans, which came as an embarrassment to Biden during his visit. But there was no suggestion the plans would be cancelled.
"Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and construction there will be carried out like in Tel Aviv or any other city – in every part of Jerusalem according to the plans," Israeli cabinet secretary Zvi Hauser told Israel Radio. "Jerusalem is a big city. It is a city that has to grow"
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, told the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, that the Palestinians would not take part in the newly agreed indirect talks. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the Palestinians would not take part unless the US forced Israel to cancel the Ramat Shlomo construction – although that seems an unlikely step. Palestinian officials said they saw no reason to negotiate while settlements continued to grow and no direct talks have been held since Israel's war on Gaza more than a year ago.
Hanan Ashrawi, a prominent independent Palestinian politician, said: "Israeli deliberate measures at expanding settlement activities, at carrying out further building of illegal settlements in and around Jerusalem – all these are designed to scuttle all American efforts at trying to relaunch any kind of talks be they direct or indirect, proximity or long-distance."