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Vice Premier Haim Ramon. (Motti Kimche)
Last update - 20:25 09/12/2007
Vice PM Ramon: Parts of J'lem must be given to Palestinians
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
Tags: Peace Process, Haim Ramon 

Vice Premier Haim Ramon responded on Sunday to U.S. criticism of plans to build additional homes in an East Jerusalem neighborhood by saying parts of the city must be given to the Palestinians to avoid losing U.S. support.

Ramon said Israel would not give up the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa, where a state plan, announced last week, to build 300 new homes sparked Palestinian anger and a warning from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who suggested the plan risked harming a peace process she helped relaunch last month at the Annapolis conference.
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"We must come today and say, friends, the Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will call Jerusalem or whatever they want," Ramon told Israel Radio.

"Then we won't get embroiled, as is happening now, in an uncalled-for and badly timed debate with the United States, at a time when we need its support," he added.

The vice premier said, however, that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's opponents were being unrealistic in hoping for U.S. support for any peace plan that would give Israel the entire Jerusalem municipality in its current form, including all of East Jerusalem, as its capital.

Ramon told Army Radio that he is "convinced that all Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, should be under Israeli sovereignty and the Arab neighborhoods should not be under Israeli sovereignty, because they pose a threat to Jerusalem being the capital of a Jewish Israel."

"Those who want Walajeh and Jabal Mukaber as well as Har Homa, will ultimately cause Jerusalem not to be a Jewish capital to Israel with a clear Jewish majority," he added, referring to Palestinian villages incorporated into Jerusalem after 1967.

Ramon, seen as a confidant who often speaks for Olmert, told Israel Radio: "Whoever wants Walaja, is endangering our hold on Har Homa... Jewish neighborhoods will remain in Israeli control and Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital.

"This is the right thing to do. This way we will not be drawn into an unnecessary annexation especially when we need the backing of the United States."

Israel has rejected criticism of a tender for some 300 more homes and other units at Har Homa - which Arabs call Abu Ghneim - on the grounds that it annexed the land and placed it inside Jerusalem city boundaries drawn in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War. That annexation is not recognized internationally.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants East Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki denounced Ramon's statement and its timing: On Wednesday, negotiating teams from both sides are to sit down together for their first formal talks in seven years.

"These statements place obstacles before any serious attempts by Palestinian negotiators on Jerusalem," Malki said. "They aim to create confusion and change the course of negotiations before they begin. They try to pressure Palestinians and the international parties to think of Israeli needs before they begin."

Israel's announcement last week that it would go ahead with plans to build 307 apartments in Har Homa came days after both sides officially announced the resumption of peace talks at the U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis.

Housing Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Army Radio on Saturday that it was
Israel's right to build in Har Homa - and everywhere else in the expanded boundaries of Jerusalem.

"It's inconceivable that the peace process requires a halt to all construction in Jerusalem, in an area that is within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries," Boim said.

"There's nothing to prevent us from building there, just as there is nothing to prevent us from building anywhere else.

After 40 years of construction, Jews in East Jerusalem number 180,000, rivaling the Arab population of 240,000, according to government statistics and the Jerusalem Institute think tank.

For years, Israeli governments rejected any talk of dividing or sharing the city. But two months ago, Ramon indicated a major governmental shift when he spoke openly about sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians.

Shortly after, Olmert himself publicly suggested that Israel's control of some traditionally Arab parts of the city might not be necessary. He named some outlying neighborhoods in the eastern sector, but not the Old City.

The Old City is the most explosive component of any talks on Jerusalem. It is home to the site of the Jewish biblical temples and their remnant, the Western Wall. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest shrine, is built over the remains of the ancient temples.

The competing claims to Jerusalem have derailed past peace talks, and are sure to complicate the new round of negotiations. The sides have pledged to try to work out a final peace deal by the end of 2008.

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      1.   A (lone ???) voice of sanity in Israels political desert....??? 12:10  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/12/07
      2.   Ceding the Arab parts of Jerusalem and elsewhere. 12:24  |  sandra chitayat 09/12/07
      3.   Vatican style solution 12:25  |  Joseph 09/12/07
      4.   Jerusalem Unified Capital of Israel 12:32  |  Khaled 09/12/07
      5.   Not a bad idea but... 12:44  |  trumpeldor 09/12/07
      6.   Ramon 12:54  |  MR 09/12/07
      7.   Ramon - unelected sex offender dictator 12:56  |  eddie 09/12/07
      8.   Piecemeal solutions ain`t going to work! 12:59  |  lakshmi 09/12/07
      9.   Parts of Jerusalem to be returned 13:01  |  howiej 09/12/07
      10.   Ramon proposal is trial baloon that fell like a dead duck 13:06  |  Sam 09/12/07
      11.   Tel Aviv is the Capitol of Israel. 13:13  |  POP 09/12/07
      12.   Ramon states Israel`s ONLY basis for remaining with Annapolis 13:39  |  Ivar 09/12/07
      13.   No Arab areas in Israel 13:54  |  Meir 09/12/07
      14.   Spoken like a husband claiming the wife made me do it 13:59  |  BenTemalion 09/12/07
      15.   Ramon`s fantasy 14:14  |  Brod 09/12/07
      16.   "undiplomatic, impolite" Israeli construction 14:41  |  Sam 09/12/07
      17.   Ramon another Antichrist! 14:49  |  Alastair 09/12/07
      18.   `Palestinians` can not be trusted 15:04  |  Eric 09/12/07
      19.   Vice PM Ramon: Parts of Jerusalem must be given to Paestinians. 15:05  |  Akram Zekaria 09/12/07
      20.   Remove all arabs from Israel 15:11  |  Petra 09/12/07
      21.   # 2 Re: Bush and the wailing wall 15:13  |  Petra 09/12/07
      22.   Ramon is an idiot & doesn`t belong in the Knesset. 15:31  |  Avraham 09/12/07
      23.   Jerusalem`s official boundries have no historical significance 15:37  |  Conroy 09/12/07
      24.   The Pals must be liquidated from Israel 15:39  |  Heimler 09/12/07
      25.   every bungled year, the Pals will lose more of J`lem 16:03  |  Richard S 09/12/07
      26.   Sam, peace is being subverted by extremists on both sides 16:05  |  Ivar 09/12/07
      27.   ramon 16:12  |  geroge 09/12/07
      28.   Giving back? Jewish land 16:15  |  Edifice 09/12/07
      29.   keep jerusalem united 16:18  |  Joey 09/12/07
      30.   Akram Zekaria...#19 your ideas are incorrect 16:26  |  Realistic 2006 09/12/07
      31.   the holy land belongs to G-D (leviticus 25:23) 16:31  |  yahn goodey 09/12/07
      32.   Ivar-Pals don`t seek 2 state-solution.It`s a naive fantasy 16:48  |  Sam 09/12/07
      33.   What`s the difference? 16:58  |  Sam 09/12/07
      34.   There are NO Arab area 17:17  |  Jeff 09/12/07
      35.   #11 POP 17:18  |  Boycott 09/12/07
      36.   #15 Brod`s gods 17:23  |  Jimmy 09/12/07
      37.   JNF`s Response on Qalandia and Shoafat 17:24  |  ZADOK 09/12/07
      38.   Ramon?s past speaks for his and its quality 17:28  |  H.H.M 09/12/07
      39.   JNF`s Response on Qalandia and Shoafat - part 2 17:28  |  ZADOK 09/12/07
      40.   too late its already one state 17:38  |  Ben 09/12/07
      41.   Ignoramus Ramon misrepresents the "US position" on Jerusalem 17:44  |  Dr. L. Brnd 09/12/07
      42.   In your dreams, Ben 17:48  |  Sam 09/12/07
      43.   Perfect name for him 17:49  |  Lila 09/12/07
      44.   Vice PM Ramon: you are a criminal 17:53  |  Daniel 09/12/07
      45.   Ivar &Sam of Canad,Ivar is right,you are putting the cart before 17:54  |  lakshmi 09/12/07
      46.   Israel, the ghetto state 17:55  |  Jim 09/12/07
      47.   Jerusalem 17:57  |  leoncio 09/12/07
      48.   Idiotic Israeli leaders 18:00  |  Seasoned observer 09/12/07
      49.   Lakshmi-The rules you choose mean nothing if you can`t back them 18:12  |  Sam 09/12/07
      50.   Finally Someone Who Have Common Sense 18:14  |  Abe 09/12/07
      51.   Ivar # 26 Peace 18:25  |  Jeff Northridge 09/12/07
      52.   Just because Abbas wants it, doesn`t mean he should have it. 09:47  |  Virginia 09/12/07
      53.   # 11 actually they may move there 18:36  |  Kris 09/12/07
      54.   Have other offers been made to the Palestinians? 18:41  |  For their Capital? 09/12/07
      55.   Give them Ramon, Peres, & Olmert instead 18:45  |  Rav Harley 09/12/07
      56.   # 21 well, you have not 18:47  |  Kris 09/12/07
      57.   I agree Dr. L Brnd #41 18:48  |  Rav Harley 09/12/07
      58.   Why is this convicted sex offender allowed to be in office? 18:58  |  SLAVO 09/12/07
      59.   Note to Israel 19:03  |  G-d 09/12/07
      60.   #4 Khaled 19:10  |  Jim 09/12/07
      61.   Underdog supporter? Understand where Rice is coming from 19:11  |  Virginia 09/12/07
      62.   Iakshmi # 45 UNGAR 181 Is Dead; May It R.I.P. 19:15  |  Jeff Northridge 09/12/07
      63.   49Sam,here`s why:Resolution 181 is still in the books and is the 19:30  |  lakshmi 09/12/07
      64.   #8 lakshmi Piecemeal solutions.... 19:30  |  Jim 09/12/07
      65.   #9 howiej 19:40  |  Jim 09/12/07
      66.   #13 Meir 19:48  |  Jim 09/12/07
      67.   Lakshmi the bureaucrat 20:00  |  Sam 09/12/07
      68.   leoncio # 47 Of Course, You Have A Right To Post Here 20:19  |  Jeff Northridge