International

US Pressurises Israel to Scrap East Jerusalem Construction Project: Report

Israeli authorities have said that the US is mounting pressure on Israel to drop its controversial Jerusalem building project, which has triggered the most serious diplomatic row with Washington in years, reported the Associated Press.

Despite presence of police in large number in Old City, tensions in the city at the heart of fight are high, said report.

In recent days, many top US officials flayed the Israeli plan to build 1,600 apartments in east Jerusalem, the sector of the city that the Palestinians claim for their future capital, report said.

Israel announced its project last week just when the US Vice President Joe Biden was on a visit to the region, thus badly embarrassing America and obstructing its efforts for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

However, American authorities didn’t reveal as yet as to which steps they wanted Israel to take to end the crisis and Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on Monday, report said.

Israeli officials said on condition of anonymity that Washington wants cancellation of the construction project, said report.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized for the timing of the project’s approval but he has been silent about its cancellation.

Though not willing to antagonize country’s most significant ally, Netanyahu has adopted a harsh line against any territorial concessions to the Palestinians, and restraint on east Jerusalem construction would threaten to fracture his hawkish coalition, noted report.

In addition, the US wants Israel to take significant confidence building measures, including release of hundreds of Palestinian prisioners or turning over additional areas of the West Bank to Palestinian control, report said quoting officials.

They said that the US demanded an official declaration by Israel that talks with the Palestinians will incorporate all the conflict’s big issues, including final borders, the status of Jerusalem, and the fate of Palestinian refugees who lost their homes during the war around Israel’s 1948 creation, said report.

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