Illegal Settlement in Jerusalem: It's Business as Usual for Israel

Construction of a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem will continue
despite criticism from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, an
Israeli minister said on Friday.

"Construction will continue at full flow, and our friends must be told
this," Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a deputy premier,
told public television.

On Tuesday Israel said it had invited bids to build more than 300 new
housing units at Har Homa in annexed east Jerusalem, the first
settlement expansion since the revival of peace talks with the
Palestinians.

"It is clear to the whole world that Har Homa is an integral part of
Israel and that Har Homa will remain an integral part of Jerusalem,"
Lieberman added.

Referring to last week's Middle East peace conference, Rice on Friday
criticised the decision.

"I made it clear that we are in a time when the goal is to build
maximum confidence with the parties," she told a news conference in
Brussels. "This is not going to build that confidence."

The decision to build the new homes has been slammed by the
Palestinians as an attempt to undermine the renewed peace drive
officially launched after a seven-year hiatus at the US-hosted talks
last week.

It was taken after the meeting, where Palestinian president Mahmud
Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehid Olmert agreed to try to reach an
accord before the end of 2008 that would allow creation of a
Palestinian state.

They also pledged to implement the 2003 roadmap plan, the first phase
of which calls on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and for
Palestinians to improve security.

Jewish settlements are one of the core issues that will be addressed in
the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations due to begin on December 12.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also said on Thursday that the Israeli
decision to expand Har Homa, known to Arabs as Jebel Abu Ghneim, was
"not helpful" so soon after the conference held at Annapolis near
Wa****ngton.

Israel does not consider construction in east Jerusalem -- which it
captured in the 1967 Six-Day War -- as settlement growth because it
annexed the Arab eastern sector of the Holy City shortly after the
conflict.

Its decision to do so was never recognised internationally and the
Palestinians want to make east Jerusalem the capital of their future
state.

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