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US wants Israel to cancel settlement plan
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Posted: 16/03/2010 - 20:37
• Israeli officials said yesterday that the US 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.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear on Monday that settlement construction would continue in east Jerusalem, amid diplomatic row.

Tensions in the city at the centre of the spat were high, with police out in large numbers in Jerusalem's volatile Old City in expectation of renewed clashes.

Top US officials have lined up in recent days to condemn the Israeli plan to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, the sector of the city that the Palestinians claim for their future capital.

The project was announced during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the region last week, badly embarrassing the US and complicating its efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

US officials have not disclosed what steps they want Israel to take to defuse the crisis, and Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev refused to comment Monday. But Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because no official decision has been made public, said Washington wants the construction project cancelled.

Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized for the timing of the project's approval, he has not said he will cancel it.

Israel does not stand to benefit from antagonising its most important ally, but Netanyahu has historically taken a hard line against territorial concessions to the Palestinians, and a curb on east Jerusalem construction would threaten to fracture his hawkish coalition.

The Israeli officials said the US 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.

source: the daily star bangladesh

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