RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel announced Monday that it plans to build nearly 700 new apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to set up the capital of a future state.
The United States, Palestinians and the European Union condemned the plan, a fresh setback to American efforts to restart Mideast peace talks.
Israel’s main opposition party, meanwhile, turned down an offer from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to join his coalition government.
The centrist Kadima party has 28 seats in the 120-seat Israeli parliament - one more than Netanyahu’s Likud.
Former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the Kadima leader, said Monday that Netanyahu’s offer was “cynical and unrealistic.” It was “unworthy of the prime minister” to try to use Israel’s difficult diplomatic situation for “small-time politics,” she said.
Netanyahu’s construction plan was criticized by Palestinians, who called it a show of bad faith by Israel. The Palestinians have said they will not resume talks without an Israeli settlement freeze.
“With each individual action it undertakes on the ground, Israel is saying no to meaningful negotiations,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
President Barack Obama’s Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, who is trying to revive negotiations, is due in Israel and the West Bank in the second week of January.
The U.S. “opposes new Israeli construction in east Jerusalem,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, and neither side should take steps that pre-empt the outcome of talks. He urged both sides to restart negotiations without preconditions.
Sweden, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, said Israel’s latest plans “prevent the creation of an atmosphere conducive to resuming negotiations on a two-state solution.”
Israel insists the Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem are not settlements but part of its own capital, a view the international community disputes.
The plan announced Monday takes Netanyahu’s government into new political territory by initiating construction for Jews in east Jerusalem. Up to now, the government has been saying it was endorsing plans already in the pipeline. Israel’s Housing Ministry confirmed that the new construction bids are Netanyahu’s first in east Jerusalem.
A partition of Jerusalem - with Jewish neighborhoods going to Israel and Arab neighborhoods to a future Palestine - would likely be part of any peace deal. Palestinians say that with each expansion of Jewish areas, the Arab portion of the city is shrinking and partition becomes more difficult.
Netanyahu said he is willing to return to talks immediately, telling a group of Israeli ambassadors: “Israel wants peace.”
Israeli-Palestinian talks broke off a year ago. After coming to power nine months ago, Netanyahu withdrew key promises his predecessor made to the Palestinians, including a willingness, in principle, to discuss the future of Jerusalem.
About 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and another 180,000 in east Jerusalem, areas claimed by the Palestinians for their state. Under U.S. pressure, Netanyahu agreed to slow new housing construction in the West Bank, though construction of more than 3,000 houses there continues.
The Israeli leader refuses to stop building in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed.
He says he will not cede any part of the city.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insists on a total settlement construction freeze, including in east Jerusalem, and also wants assurances that the pre-1967 war borders would serve as the basis for talks that would pick up where they left off under Netanyahu’s more moderate predecessor, Ehud Olmert.
Information for this article was contributed from Jerusalem by Amy Teibel and from Washington by Matthew Lee of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 12/29/2009