Word: settlement
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...standoff between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Obama Administration concerns whether Israel can build in those parts of the city it captured in the war of 1967 - the Jewish state's claims to East Jerusalem are not internationally recognized, and building there is considered settlement activity by the U.S. and the rest of the international community. In order to restart peace talks, the Obama Administration has demanded that Israel freeze all settlement construction, in line with its obligation to do so under President Bush's 2002 peace road map. Netanyahu demurred, offering instead a temporary slowdown in West Bank...
...Netanyahu reportedly balked at White House demands earlier this month that Israel refrain from further construction in East Jerusalem. Indeed, he used his time in Washington to repeatedly restate his government's policy on Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem that had triggered a crisis during U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's recent visit to Israel. And the White House made no effort to conceal the discord, condemning new Israeli construction plans revealed during Netanyahu's visit and dispensing with the traditional photo opportunity and joint statement during Netanyahu's White House visit Tuesday evening. While U.S. officials sought to press...
...Israelis demur, but hours before Netanyahu arrived at the White House on Tuesday it emerged that Israeli authorities had approved further construction at yet another site in East Jerusalem. No surprise there, since Netanyahu had on Monday told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), "Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital ... Everyone knows that these neighborhoods will be part of Israel in any peace settlement...
...Netanyahu's claims may have been a crowd-pleaser at AIPAC, and they went unchallenged on Capitol Hill. Still, as far as the U.S. government and the rest of the international community is concerned, Israeli construction in East Jerusalem is settlement activity. Whereas U.S. Presidents typically use words like unhelpful to describe it, on Wednesday the mild-mannered U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was more forthright, denouncing the new housing units planned by Israel in East Jerusalem as "illegal." Israel's claims on the parts of the city it captured in 1967 are not internationally recognized, and Netanyahu...
...Netanyahu insists that Israel is ready to resume direct negotiations, and blames Palestinian demands for a complete settlement freeze for creating an impasse. But his stance on Jerusalem may have simply reinforced the Palestinian leadership's argument that no deal can be done with the current Israeli government. (Of course, the Israelis might counter that the current Palestinian leadership with which it is being asked to negotiate has questionable political authority over its own people.) Still, the Obama Administration appears inclined to force Netanyahu to make a choice between pursuing a peace process whose contours "everybody knows" - to borrow...