OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel has granted preliminary approval for 625 new homes in East Jerusalem, prompting an angry response from Palestinians Thursday as peace talks remained stuck over settlement construction. The plan for a new housing project received preliminary approval from a district planning committee, which published an announcement on Nov. 25. Further approval is required, and if the plan is given final approval construction will not begin for about two years. According to the announcement in the Maariv daily, the homes are part of a “residential neighborhood” in Pisgat Zeev, a sprawling area of 50,000 residents. The Palestinians have refused to resume peace talks with Israel without a full construction freeze that would include the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the part of the city they want for the capital of a future state. Israel, which sees all of Jerusalem as its own capital, has rejected that condition and has continued approving new projects there even as US mediators try to revive the talks. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to meet with US officials for an update on those efforts. “It seems obvious that we have received the Israeli answer to the American attempts to stop settlements,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. Israel has chosen “settlements and not peace,” he said.
