Housing Minister Zeev Boim said on Tuesday Israel was planning to construct 1,100 new apartments in East Jerusalem, angering Palestinians who insist the eastern sector of the city must become the capital of their future state.

Boim said Israel will build 370 units in Har Homa (or Jabal Abu Ghneim), an illegal Jewish settlement located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and 750 in Pisgat Zeev, a colony which sprawls over the Judean hills, north of the city.

He said his ministry was preparing to build the infrastructure needed for the new apartments in Har Homa and Pisgat Zeev. He also made it clear that the new apartments were in addition to the 350 offered for tender in December. Thus, the total constructions at these two locations alone will amount to 1,450 housing units.
Israel occupied and annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 and expanded its boundaries to include large swathes of territory outside former municipal limits.  Israel has also built what it calls “star settlements” straddling the old Green Line border between Israel “proper” and the West Bank, to erase the Green Line as well as create facts on the ground in the West Bank.

The announcement of the latest construction has elicited an angry response from the Palestinian Authority, which accuses Israel of trying to dictate the terms of a final status agreement by colonising more and more territory.
While Israel expects to retain East Jerusalem settlements in any peace deal, Palestinians argue that Israel is using these colonies as a means to grab their land and undermine the ongoing negotiations. “We condemn these Israeli declarations, and again ask the Israeli government to give peace a chance by stopping all settlement activity,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

During the past week, there has been a bitter debate between the Jerusalem municipality and the government over the pledge to halt settlement construction given by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

He said all buildings in the occupied territories had to receive his personal approval. However, he made a distinction between Jerusalem, which Israel considers its eternal and exclusive capital, and the West Bank, seen as a disputed territory by Israel.

On Monday, Jerusalem city manager Yair Maayan told a parliamentary committee that the government was holding up construction of hundreds of apartments in Jewish neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. This was denied by Boim who explained that Olmert meant his instruction apply only to the West Bank.

“There is nothing regarding construction in Jerusalem. We are building all over Jerusalem within its municipal borders.”