Another new Israeli plan to expand a neighborhood in east Jerusalem has stirred Palestinian ire.
Ha’aretz this week revealed a preliminary proposal by the Israeli government to build new residential units in the Atarot neighborhood in the east of the capital, though Construction and Housing Minister Zeev Boim said there was no official go-ahead.
The Palestinian Authority, which wants east Jerusalem as a future capital, said such Israeli projects could endanger peace talks revived at last month’s Annapolis peace conference.
Israeli-Palestinian ties have already been strained by a plan to build 300 new homes in Har Homa, an east Jerusalem district which the Olmert government says should not be considered part of territory that might be ceded in the future.
