The growing rift between the White House and Israel over the continued construction of Jewish settlements has widened after the US demanded the scrapping of a plan for new Jewish housing in occupied east Jerusalem.
The state department summoned the Israeli ambassador, Michael Oren, to tell him the US wants a freeze on plans by an American, Irving Moskowitz, to knock down an old hotel and build houses for Jewish settlers on the site.
Moskowitz, who raises funds for contentious settlement projects through a "charity" bingo hall in California, received planning permission for the project earlier this month.
The US demand is the latest tussle since Barack Obama shifted the diplomatic ground dramatically in May when he told the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, that all settlement construction had to stop because it was a major obstacle to peace.
Netanyahu hit back yesterday by saying that all of Jerusalem belonged to the Jewish state. "We cannot accept the fact that Jews wouldn't be entitled to live and buy anywhere in Jerusalem," he said.
Moskowitz is known for pursuing settlement projects in particularly sensitive locations and at sensitive times – a strategy that his critics say is intended to undermine peace efforts.