
Israel announced that it would build nearly 700 housing units in Jewish areas of Jerusalem on territory conquered in the 1967 war that the Palestinians claim for their future state.
But the future of Jerusalem is among the most contentious issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel’s annexation of the parts of Jerusalem won in 1967 and its assertion that the reunified city would remain under its rule as its capital has won almost no support worldwide. The United States consistently condemns unilateral Israeli steps in East Jerusalem as harmful to peace efforts.
Even though the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a freeze on residential housing construction in West Bank settlements until September in order to help restart peace talks, it did not include Jerusalem in the moratorium.
A month ago, Israel advanced plans for 900 more units in a fourth Jewish area of Jerusalem on land captured in 1967, a move that was criticized by the European Union and the United States.
President Obama said then in a television interview that such building did not make Israel safer, made achieving peace harder and embittered the Palestinians.
The Palestinians say they will not return to the talks without a complete settlement freeze.
The 1947 United Nations plan for the Holy Land divided it into two states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian, with Jerusalem — holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews — as a separate international entity. But the war that broke out over Israel’s declaration of independence left armistice lines running through Jerusalem, with the western sector held by Israel and the eastern part, including the holy sites of the Old City, held by Jordan.
Until the 1967 war, when Israel took the rest of Jerusalem from Jordan, Israelis were barred from the Old City, the site of the ancient Jewish temple, Judaism’s holiest site. After winning that war, Israel declared its citizens would never again suffer that fate and named the entire city its capital.
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