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The UN Security Council resolution will not slow down construction in the 1967 liberated parts of Jerusalem, according to the municipality’s Local Planning and Construction committee. In fact, on Wednesday, the committee plans to vote to approve thousands of new housing units in Jewish and mixed neighborhoods across the 1949 armistice line, a.k.a. the “greenline.” The planning committee will approve 2,600 new housing units in the neighborhood of Gilo, another 2,600 units in Givat Hamatos, and 400 units in Ramat Shlomo – altogether 5,600 units in eastern Jerusalem.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said that after a new Israeli government has been sworn in he will investigate whether there are "realistic options" for a return to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Reuters reports. "Once a new government has been sworn in, the Secretary-General will explore with Prime Minister Netanyahu realistic options for a return to meaningful negotiations on a two state solution," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, after Netanyahu was able to clinch a deal to form a coalition hours before a deadline. Dujarric also said Ban was "deeply concerned by recent...

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor David Hadari submitted a “routine” proposal last week regarding details of a plan to market of 900 new housing units in the Har Homa neighborhood of Jerusalem—and immediately made headlines over “building a settlement in East Jerusalem.” Hadari joked about the situation in a post to Facebook on Sunday. “I forgot one thing… that American Secretary of State John Kerry is visiting,” he wrote. …

JERUSALEM — Israeli officials said Monday that the U.S. is pressing Israel to scrap a contentious east Jerusalem building project whose approval has touched off the most serious diplomatic feud with Washington in years. Competing Israeli and Palestinian claims to east Jerusalem were feeding tensions in the holy city, where Arabs and Jews maintain an uneasy coexistence and sometimes clash. Police were out in large numbers in the volatile Old City in expectation of renewed clashes. Top U.S. officials have lined up in recent days to condemn the Israeli plan to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, the sector of...

Vice President Joe Biden says the Palestinians deserve a state. He has traveled to the Mideast to press the Israelis to surrender more territory more quickly to what has been termed the Palestinian Authority. The Obama administration is giving $900 million of our money to the Mahmoud Abbas regime on the West Bank of the Jordan River, supposedly for "humanitarian" causes. This administration went out of its way to avoid being seen as "meddling" with Iran, but it shows no such restraint with Israel. Meanwhile, the Palestinians go on naming schools for suicide bombers and coaching their children to emulate...

U.S. is pressing Israel to scrap a contentious east Jerusalem building project... Israeli officials said the U.S. also wants Israel to make a significant confidence-building gesture toward the Palestinians, including possibly releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners or turning over additional areas of the West Bank to Palestinian control. Washington....also has demanded that Israel officially declare that talks with the Palestinians will deal with all the conflict's big issues, including final borders, the status of Jerusalem, and the fate of Palestinian refugees who lost their homes during the war around Israel's 1948 creation.

In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has endorsed "healthy relations" between Iran and Syria, mildly rebuked Syrian President Bashar Assad for accusing the U.S. of "colonialism," and publicly apologized to Moammar Gadhafi for treating him with less than appropriate deference after the Libyan called for "a jihad" against Switzerland. When it comes to Israel, however, the Administration has no trouble rising to a high pitch of public indignation. On a visit to Israel last week, Vice President Joe Biden condemned an announcement by a mid-level Israeli official that the government had approved a planning stage—the fourth out of seven required—for...

One sign of an insane foreign policy is the laser-like focus on the absurd at the expense of the important. Over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a heated 45-minutes call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the announced construction of 1,600 homes in Jerusalem . . . Israel's capital. There are arguments for having delayed the announced construction of the homes until after Vice President Joe Biden left Israel. It would have been polite to wait. On the other hand, why should Israel have waited? Did Clinton give the world community a "heads up" on the...

JERUSALEM - The U.S. is pressing Israel to scrap a contentious east Jerusalem building project whose approval has touched off the most serious diplomatic feud with Washington in years, American and Israeli officials said Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, gave no indication he intended to cancel construction of the 1,600 housing units, despite condemnation from a string of U.S. officials. Netanyahu offered a defense of his country's building in the city's eastern sector, which the Palestinians want as their future capital, and noted that Israel has been building there for more than 40 years. Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/03/15/1225991/netanyahu-jerusalem-building-doesnt.html#ixzz0iGIkGOHo

Israeli media reported Monday that the U.S. is pressing Israel to scrap a contentious east Jerusalem building project whose approval has touched off the most serious diplomatic feud with Washington in years. Top U.S. officials have lined up in recent days to condemn the Israeli plan to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, the sector of the holy city that the Palestinians claim for their future capital. The project caused a storm in Washington because it was announced during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region last week, badly embarrassing the U.S. and complicating its efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said that Israel would continue to build in Jerusalem in the same way that it has over the last 42 years. "The building in Jerusalem - and in all other places - will continue in the same way as has been customary over the last 42 years," said Netanyahu at a Likud party meeting.

At most, the newly announced housing plan shows Israel doesn't want to give up all of E. J'lem as part of a peace agreement. Not exactly news. There’s been much nonsense written about the government announcement that 1,600 apartments would be built in east Jerusalem. The timing was stupid, of course, since US Vice President Joe Biden was in town and didn’t like the idea. Moreover, to have such an announcement just when indirect talks with the Palestinian Authority were about to start doesn’t make Israel look helpful. But that’s about it. The action, if not the timing, was neither...

JERUSALEM — Israel on Monday reopened a landmark synagogue in Jerusalem's walled Old City, saying it should symbolise religious tolerance, 62 years after the building was destroyed in fighting with Jordan. In a video message because he was unable to attend personally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the synagogue brought a message of coexistence. "We permit believers of other faiths to conserve their places of worship. We proudly protect our heritage, while at the same time allowing others freedom of religion," he said. But the rededication came against a backdrop of heightened political and religious tensions in the holy...

State Department: US does not object to Israel rededicating Hurva Synagogue U.S. Department of StatePhilip J. CrowleyAssistant SecretaryDaily Press BriefingWashington, DCMarch 15, 2010www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2010/03/138369.htmTRANSCRIPT:1:09 p.m. ESTMR. CROWLEY: Good afternoon and welcome to the Department of State. Several announcements before taking your questions:On March 18th and 19th, Secretary Clinton will participate in a meeting of the Quartet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, European High Representative Catherine Ashton, as well as Quartet Representative Tony Blair to discuss efforts to promote Middle East peace....QUESTION: So when the Secretary spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu, did she make any...

Israel remains a strategic ally of the United States, the US State Department reaffirmed Monday amid a dispute over Israeli plans to build settler homes in east Jerusalem.

(IsraelNN.com) U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell has delayed his scheduled trip to Israel on Tuesday while the United States waits for a formal response from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on his intentions concerning a building project for Jews in Jerusalem. Obama Under Fire U.S. President Barack Obama is behind the public chastising of Prime Minister Netanyahu over the housing plan, according to the New York Times. His handling of the diplomatic crisis with Israel is being increasingly criticized in the United States, with reporters confused following different signals by different American officials. The Obama administration apparently is not making...

An ill-timed municipal housing announcement in Jerusalem has mutated into one of the most serious conflicts between the United States and Israel in two decades, leaving a politically embarrassed Israeli government scrambling to respond to a tough list of demands by the Obama administration. The Obama administration has put Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a difficult political spot at home by insisting that the Israeli government halt a plan to build housing units in East Jerusalem. The administration also wants Mr. Netanyahu to commit to substantive negotiations with the Palestinians, after more than a year in which the peace process...

US envoy cancels Mideast trip, Israel feud deepens By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer Tue Mar 16, 7:40 am ET JERUSALEM – A U.S. envoy's postponement of his Mideast trip appeared Tuesday to deepen one of the worst U.S.-Israeli feuds in memory — even as Israel's foreign minister signaled his government had no intention of curtailing the contentious construction at the heart of the row. Hundreds of Palestinians hurled rocks at police and set tires and garbage bins ablaze across the holy city's volatile eastern sector, where the construction is planned. Plumes of black smoke billowed and the air reeked...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday hailed the "unshakeable bond" between the United States and Israel in an effort to quell the diplomatic spat that has rocked ties between Washington and its closest Middle East ally. "We have an absolute commitment to Israel's security. We have a close, unshakeable bond between the United States and Israel," Clinton told a news briefing. Her comments marked a turn after days of tough U.S. talk following Israel's announcement last week that it would approve construction of a housing project in East Jerusalem, a move which infuriated the Palestinians and put hopes for...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Israel must prove it is committed to the Middle East peace process, but brushed aside suggestions that U.S.-Israeli relations are in crisis. U.S. and Israeli officials are in intense talks over "steps that we think would demonstrate the requisite commitment to the process," said Clinton. She added that the Obama administration was awaiting a response from Israel to suggestions on how to repair damage caused by last week's announcement of new housing in East Jerusalem.