Abbas: Israel trying to Judaicize East Jerusalem

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday accused Israel of destroying the Islamic and Christian character of Jerusalem, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of a U.S. demand to halt a proposed housing project in East Jerusalem.

"The holy city is today facing real dangers, while there are attempts to turn it into a full Jewish city," a statement published Monday by the Wafa news agency quoted Abbas as telling Palestinians in Bethlehem.

He accused Israel of "digging under every corner in the city, which would cause a real danger to historic and religious constructions, mainly the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Abbas added that Israel's policy "of demolishing or confiscating houses, as well as imposing heavy taxes on Muslim and Christian residents and preventing them from building, aims at forcing them to leave the city."

Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, and annexed it shortly afterward.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state, saying the Jewish neighborhoods Israel has built there cut the city off from the rest of the West Bank.

U.S. opposition

On Sunday, media reported that the U.S. has demanded Israel not proceed with a plan to build housing units on the site of the Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem.

The hotel was bought in the mid-1980s by U.S. businessman Irving Moskowitz, a supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Netanyahu responded to the U.S. demand by telling his cabinet that Israel "cannot accept the idea that Jews will not have the right to live and purchase in all parts of Jerusalem."