JERUSALEM — The Israeli government Friday published plans to build 1,400 housing units in Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a move the chief Palestinian negotiator condemned as a “slap” to Secretary of State John Kerry’s intense push for a Middle East peace deal.
The housing announcement was hardly a surprise. Israeli officials originally said they would promote these units in conjunction with the Dec. 31 release of 26 long-serving Palestinian prisoners, but then promised to delay the plan until after Kerry’s latest shuttle diplomacy visit.
It continues a pattern that began with the peace talks last summer, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has struggled to please his politically complex coalition government by both engaging in the talks and continuing to expand settlements, something the Palestinians and many global powers contend undermines the prospects for a two-state solution.
“Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu sent a message to Mr. Kerry today, and the message reads, ‘Do not continue your peace efforts,’ ” the Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said in an interview. “They know very well that this destroys the peace process.”
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, declined to comment on the announcement.
A senior Israeli official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said Israel had agreed to release Palestinian prisoners convicted of killing Israelis as part of the peace talks but not to freeze settlement construction. He noted that all the new units were planned for the so-called settlement blocs that most Israeli leaders have vowed never to give up.
“Israel is strictly honoring all the understandings that were reached to facilitate the current peace talks,” the official said.
“If you look at every peace plan that’s been on the table,” he added, “there are differences between the different plans, but in all of them, the large settlement blocs remain part of the final-status peace. If you’re building in areas that are going to remain part of Israel in any agreement, are we really changing the map of peace?”
The new plans include 600 units in Ramat Shlomo, a neighborhood in the northern part of Jerusalem where plans for similar construction announced during a 2010 visit by Vice President Joe Biden led to a major clash with the Obama administration. There is also more planned housing in the Gush Etzion area south of Jerusalem and in Ariel, a large settlement about 12 miles into the West Bank, along with several smaller ones nearby. In addition, the government re-published old plans that were never implemented for nearly 500 units in Pisgat Ze’ev and Ramot, also in northern Jerusalem.
Israel seized East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war; it later annexed East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as the capital of their future state. Most of the world considers these territories to be occupied, and any settlement there illegal.
The construction announcement Friday comes as Kerry is trying to cajole Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to agree to a framework for continuing the peace talks that would set out the core principles of an agreement and buy more time to deal with the details. The framework will probably call for a division of the land along the 1967 lines with some swaps to accommodate settlements, Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state with protections for Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinian refugees, and twin capitals in the Jerusalem area.
Jen Psaki, the US State Department spokeswoman, reiterated Washington’s longstanding position that the settlements were “illegitimate” and said, “It is never helpful to have steps taken that are not conducive to our efforts to move forward on peace.”
“We’ve called on both sides, as you know, many, many times to create a positive atmosphere for negotiations, so anything that doesn’t do that is unhelpful,” Psaki added. “But the reality is, both sides remain committed to discussing the framework, committed to moving forward, and we’ll keep working with them.”
Erekat, who said in December that further settlement announcements should prompt the Palestinians to seek redress in UN agencies and other bodies like the International Criminal Court, on Friday said the leadership would hold an emergency meeting to decide how to respond. He said the announcement showed Israel’s “commitment to an apartheid regime” and presented a “test to the US administration’s ability to hold Israel accountable.”
Hanan Ashrawi,of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said the announcement proved Kerry’s initiative was “a charade,” and said “I can’t believe how naïve or disingenuous and complicit the Americans are.”
Criticism also came from within Israel. Ofer Shelah, a member of Netanyahu’s coalition from the centrist Yesh Atid Party, called the announcement “regrettable both in content and in the timing.” And Yair Lapid, chairman of that party, said he would ensure it “remains only a bad idea that isn’t implemented.”