Last update - 02:04 30/12/2007
PM: Only gov't can OK new building in E. J'lem
By Barak Ravid
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert intends to refrain from authorizing further construction projects in East Jerusalem, but will allow construction in the neighborhood of Har Homa, sources close to the prime minister told Haaretz yesterday.
The sources added that Olmert is seeking to introduce stricter government supervision of construction plans in the region.
According to the sources, Olmert told Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim last week that he is interested in making it "understood that no construction is carried out in East Jerusalem." However, Olmert reportedly said that the current construction of 307 housing units in the south-eastern neighborhood of Har Homa, which is on the Palestinian side of the Green Line, will not be terminated.
The sources added that Olmert intends to instruct the relevant ministers to alert the cabinet about possible future crises involving construction in East Jerusalem. The prime minister is reportedly concerned about plans that have already been approved by the current as well as the previous cabinet and could be initiated without obtaining further clearance.
The construction at Har Homa has strained the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority after the Annapolis peace summit, which took place in Maryland late last month. News of the construction at Har Homa broke just days before negotiations opened for the first time in seven years.
The Palestinians and a number of Arab states said the construction at Har Homa constituted a violation of Israel's commitment to freeze construction in the settlements. But Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem and regards the territory as its own, does not formally recognize the eastern part of the city as non-Israeli.
Despite this, the construction at Har Homa reportedly caused the government much embarrassment, as it was approved by relatively low-ranking bureaucrats and not brought up for review by decision-makers.
To prevent such cases from reoccurring, Olmert plans to ask the ministers to be more cautious in all maters related to construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
"Israel is interested in making any form of construction in Jerusalem or the West Bank the result of an educated government decision, and not the doing of a bureaucrat whose actions effectively sucker-punch the cabinet and which result in international condemnations," official sources in Jerusalem told Haaretz.
The sources went on to say that they are "interested in authorizing construction only if it does not hamper the chances of reaching a peace settlement with the Palestinians." The sources also said that in their meeting on Thursday, Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that this was his intention, too.
In his meeting with Boim, Olmert requested that the housing minister remain in close contact with the Defense Ministry. "We are trying to advance negotiations and reach a permanent agreement. We do not need to heighten the preexisting tensions around the construction issue," Olmert reportedly said.
Olmert is familiar with the Har Homa plan from his stint as Jerusalem mayor in the 1990s. Although he did not order the construction plan terminated, he requested to be updated on any development. The Har Homa plan speaks of an additional 500 housing units that are supposed to be constructed in the neighborhood in 2008.
Boim and Olmert also discussed the shelved Safdie Plan, which entails expanding Jerusalem's western neighborhoods instead of its eastern reaches.