Report: “Israel” ignores U.S. Request to freeze Al Quds Settlement

Local Editor, 17-11-2009

"Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again rejected a U.S. demand to stop a project to build dozens of housing units in an east Al Quds [Jerusalem] settlement, "Israeli "army radio reported on Tuesday.

On his part, U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell had currently asked the hawkish prime minister to freeze the project in the illegal settlement of Gilo, northwest of Bethlehem in the central West Bank, saying it threats raising tensions with Palestinians among efforts by Washington to restart peace negotiations, it said.

But Netanyahu opposed, saying that the project did not need government approval and that Gilo was "an integral part of Jerusalem," it said.

A senior "Israeli" official commenting on the report, said that only Netanyahu "is ready to show the maximum restraint when it comes to construction in Judeaea and Samaria (West Bank) to help restart (peace) negotiations, but this policy does not apply in Jerusalem, our capital."
No comment was instantly available from the U.S. side.

The illegal settlement Gilo lies in the mostly Arab east Jerusalem that "Israel" occupied along with the Dafa [West Bank] from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognized by the international community.

"Israel" claims that both halves of Al Quds its "eternal, indivisible" capital and does not view construction in the eastern part as settlements.