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Barkat could lose Labor's support over Jewish neighborhood plan By Jonathan Lis MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) on the weekend said the statements of secular candidate for Jerusalem mayor, Nir Barkat, are endangering the Labor Party's support for him. Last week Barkat declared his support for the establishment of a Jewish neighborhood near the village of Anata, beyond the Green Line (1967 border), on the city's eastern slopes. "I think Barkat is forgetting that the Labor Party has declared its support for him as mayor," Pines-Paz said in response to last week's report in Haaretz. "I call upon him to retract this statement before the elections, in order not to endanger Labor's endorsement of him," Pines-Paz continued. Barkat's list for the municipal council, "Jerusalem Shall Succeed," is a non-partisan list that includes Labor candidates, in return for which the party agreed to support him. Nine days ago Barkat toured the site of the planned neighborhood, stating that the Jewish quarter in Anata "will serve to provide a solution to the lack of housing for students and young people in the city." Advertisement If Barkat is elected mayor, this would constitute a significant change in the current policy on Jewish construction in the area. The neighborhood, to be called Sha'ar Mizrahi (Eastern Gate), is intended to provide contiguity between the capital's Jewish neighborhoods and the city of Ma'aleh Adumim to the east, while simultaneously preventing a contiguous stretch of Palestinian settlement between Ramallah and Bethlehem. According to Pines-Paz, "These are distorted ideas that will lead to extremism and disaster. Such actions will ignite Jerusalem, and will prove counterproductive to any goals Barkat himself presented. Jerusalem needs neither extremists nor extremism." Last week Barkat announced that the Yisrael Beiteinu party had also endorsed his candidacy. "[MK] Avigdor Lieberman and I share the belief that Israel must be strong and Jerusalem strong in its heart," he said. Pines-Paz warned on the weekend that Barkat's extremist statements would prompt voters for the left "to stay home." Barkat's campaign headquarters responded that, "Anyone who is now calling on people to refrain from voting is supporting [ultra-Orthodox candidate Meir] Porush, sowing despair in the struggle for Jerusalem. Anyone who wants a different Jerusalem will vote for Barkat." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Livni ahead in polls Netanyahu loses lead he has held for two years, while Labor heads for election debacle. The frozen chosen In staunchly Republican Alaska, a Jewish Democrat may take state's lone seat in Congress.

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