JERUSALEM, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Israeli officials on
Tuesday defied increasing calls from the international community for a
construction freeze in East Jerusalem, insisting that Israel has every right to
build anywhere in the holy city.
"Israel will continue to operate in accordance with
its vital national interests... Our right to rule and develop Jerusalem is
irrefutable," local news service Ynet quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Danny
Ayalon as saying.
The
remarks came shortly after Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko
urged the Jewish state to halt all construction in East Jerusalem, including a
planned project to build 20 housing units in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
With a similar tone, the European Union and France on
Tuesday also demanded that construction in East Jerusalem should be stopped.
These calls echoed a statement released on Monday by
the U.S. government. U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley stressed
that the United States opposes construction in East Jerusalem and West Bank
settlements and that unilateral actions cannot prejudge the outcome of peace
negotiations.
Despite the mounting pressure, some senior officials
in the rightists-dominated Israeli government joined Ayalon in claiming that the
Israeli government is entitled to build in the whole Jerusalem, including the
Arabs-dominated east sect.
"Israel's government is not a subsidiary of any other
world government," Interior Minister Eli Yishai told local TV Channel 10 on
Tuesday. "The Israeli government is free to build anywhere in Israel, certainly
after having obtained all the relevant permits by law."
"Israel must reject international pressure and
challenges to its sovereignty in Jerusalem," the broadcaster quoted Science
Minister Daniel Hershkowitz as saying.
At Sunday's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu also stressed that Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem is "indisputable"
and Israel cannot agree to demands for a construction freeze in East Jerusalem.
The spar highlighted a growing rift between Israel
and the international community over the settlement issue, including Israel's
closest ally the United States, which has vowed to help resume the stalled
Israeli-Palestinian peace process as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Israel's Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor
on Tuesday said that the current U.S. demand for a construction freeze in West
Bank settlements goes against past understandings reached by the two nations.
He claimed that Israel entered into a series of
understandings with the previous U.S. administration under former President
George W. Bush that would greenlight limited settlement construction.
"It is of great importance to us that what the
American administration has agreed to is not overlooked," he told foreign
reporters, adding that "otherwise, it would raise questions about the legitimacy
of future agreements."
However, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
responded that such understandings, even if they do exist, have never become the
official position of the U.S. government.
Settlements and Jerusalem are among the key issues
impeding the decades-old peace process between the two neighbors. Some 500,000
Israelis now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday said
that should Israel freeze all settlement activities, the Palestinian side would
be ready to renew peace negotiations, which have been put on hold for about a
year.
Special U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell
is scheduled to visit the region next week, in another bid to settle the recent
dust-up and bring the two sides back to the negotiation table.
"In the coming weeks, I think that we will see, I
certainly hope so, the resumption of negotiations," said Meridor, pointing out
that in the past negotiations were conducted despite settlement
expansion.
