WEST BANK/JERUSALEM :ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU APPEALS TO PALESTINIANS NOT TO PROTEST WHEN HE AGREES TO A PLAN TO CONSTRUCT A JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN ARAB EAST JERUSALEM

Record ID: 399856

  • Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM :ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU APPEALS TO PALESTINIANS NOT TO PROTEST WHEN HE AGREES TO A PLAN TO CONSTRUCT A JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN ARAB EAST JERUSALEM
  • Date: 25th February 1997
  • Summary: HAR HOMA, EAST JERUSALEM (RECENT) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. PAN/LV/SV LAND ALLOCATED BY THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT FOR BUILDING IN HAR HOMA AREA (JABAL ABU GHNEIM) (6 SHOTS) 0.48 JERUSALEM (FEBRUARY 25, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 2. SLV KNESSET EXTERIOR 0.53 3. SV ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYHAU WALKING IN KNESSET 1.03
  • Embargoed: 12th March 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HAR HOMA, EAST JERUSALEM, BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVAB00V3K5KS1CHPJAHBMJ56YPZS
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appealed Palestinians not to protest or react when he agrees to a plan to construct a Jewish neighbourhood in Arab East Jerusalem. The decision is likely to heighten tensions between Arabs and Jews in the area.

    Netanyahu issued the appeal on Tuesday (February 25) following a meeting of the Israeli Parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense committees.

    Netanyahu told reporters he would convene a ministerial committee on Jerusalem on Wednesday to approve a plan to build 6,500 homes for Jews on Har Homa, known as Jabal Abu Ghneim by Arabs, a tree-covered hill taken by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

    Palestinians and Israeli leftists have warned the plan would ignite Arab feelings reminiscent of September 1996, when Netanyahu allowed the opening of an entrance to a tunnel near holy Moslem sites in Jerusalem. Sixty-one Arabs and 15 Israelis were killed in clashes as a result.

    Some 150 Palestinian demonstrators marched towards Jabal Abu Ghneim from self-ruled Bethlehem in the West Bank on Tuesday to protest against the plan, but they were prevented from reaching Jerusalem by Israeli police.

    Faisal al-Husseini, the top Palestinian Authority official in Jerusalem, took part in the march. He said if Israel continued with its plan to build, it would be a grave mistake leading to an "explosion" within the Palestinian people. He also said the peace process would lose all credibility.

    In a move to appease Palestinian anger, the Jerusalem committee was also due to approve some 3,500 homes for Arabs in 10 different Jerusalem neighbourhoods.

    Jerusalem's mayor Ehud Olmert said it would be extremely unwise of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to engage in bloodshed over the building in Har Homa, and added that Arafat will be the one to lose.

    Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the 1967 war, as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.

    Israel calls the entire city its "eternal capital", a claim that is not recognised internationally.

    The city's fate is up for negotiation in "final status" peace talks with the PLO that are slated to end by 1999.


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