There will be no peace or stability without a Palestinian Jerusalem, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said on Tuesday.
Responding to comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the conference of the Israeli lobby group AIPAC in Washington on Monday evening, Abu Rudaineh spoke as President Mahmoud Abbas awaited news from the closed-door meeting between the Israeli leader and American President Barack Obama.
As Rudaineh called Israeli settlement in Palestinian Jerusalem "illegitimate," reports said Washington told Israel that the status of Jerusalem would have to be negotiated, stifling faint hopes of Palestinians that the United States would demand an Israeli pullout to the 1967 borders. At the same time, however, the comments did not encourage continued Israeli settlement in the area.
Despite the American caution Israeli planning officials announced the go-ahead for 20 new Israeli-only units in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The announcement was made shortly before Netanyahu emerged from his meeting with Obama.
Abu Rudaineh described the Israeli policy of settlement construction in and around Palestinian Jerusalem as an attempt to "thwart efforts being made by the Quartet and specifically the American administration," to secure a lasting peace in the area. The spokesman called statements from both bodies "encouraging," but noted they lacked practical action to back them up.
The United States and the Quartet must take a "practical and decisive stance toward peace," Abu Rudaineh said.
Speaking with Ma'an, the presidential spokesman confirmed the halt of proximity talks with Israel, saying they would continue to be frozen "until Israel commits to the conditions of the roadmap."
More settlement homes
Just as the United States was rumored to have secured a stay on the construction of 1,600 new East Jerusalem settlement homes last week, the Jerusalem planning department announced plans for the construction of homes and parking lots in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
The plan was announced in July, and prompted condemnations from both the US and Britain. The project took on a low-profile after the condemnations, but was approved Tuesday afternoon, Israeli media reported.
The approval means construction can go forward immediately, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
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