A MEETING of the Jerusalem municipality’s planning committee this week, to approve widespread construction in four neighbourhoods over the green line, has been shelved under orders from the prime minister.
Israeli media said the move to delay approval by the district committee of the controversial construction reflected a desire to avoid a diplomatic embarrassment ahead of Friday’s meeting of the quartet in Berlin.
The quartet, representing the US, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, is expected to issue a call opposing any further expansion of Jewish neighbourhoods built in territory captured during the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli war.
Israel is also concerned that the quartet may issue a call for a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with agreed land swaps.
Among the projects that were expected to be given the green light this week were 942 new homes in Gilo, at the southern tip of Jerusalem adjacent to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and 980 units in the nearby Har Homa neighbourhood, close to the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour.
The northern Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Ramot, also built over the green line, were to be allocated another 625 and 180 new homes.
Binyamin Netanyahu’s office refused to confirm that an order had been given to postpone the approval of the construction, but a Jerusalem municipality official admitted that there had been “external pressures”.
The interior ministry said in response that “the committee is sovereign in determining its agenda. From time to time, and under different circumstances, the agenda is edited and changed.”
A decision to approve the 942 units in Gilo by a separate municipal committee earlier this month came during the visit of Israeli president Shimon Peres to Washington.
The US state department expressed “deep concern”, while the plan was also condemned by the European Union and the United Nations.
The majority of Israelis distinguish between Jewish neighbourhoods within the capital’s municipal boundaries, even if they were built on occupied territory, and the rest of the West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu’s government refused to include Jerusalem neighbourhoods in the 10-month settlement freeze implemented in November 2009 in an effort to coax the Palestinians back to the peace talks.