The city of Jerusalem has canceled a vote Wednesday to approve the construction of 492 units -- such as homes, synagogues and other public buildings -- in East Jerusalem, a city council member said.
The decision follows a request from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said council member Hanan Rubin, who's also a member of the city's zoning committee.
It comes days after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israel's settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It also comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to give a speech on the Obama administration's vision for Middle East peace.
"The municipality regards housing in Jerusalem as a municipal need rather than a political action, and therefore there is no need to vote on this on a sensitive day when John Kerry is to give a speech," Rubin said. "We don't want to be a part of a political controversy."
However, the mayor of an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, Oded Revivi, didn't hold back from blasting Kerry ahead of his address Wednesday at the State Department.
"John Kerry is a stain on American foreign policy who is ignorant of the issues. He has chosen to eternalize his legacy as the worst secretary of state in history that chose to stab his closest ally in the back while rivers of blood flowed like water across the Middle East," said Revivi, mayor of Efrat and chief foreign envoy of the YESHA Council, an umbrella organization that represents an estimated 430,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
"I can personally attest to the fact that he knows very little about the realities in Judea and Samaria and instead chooses to defame us from afar by repeating fictitious mantras against us," Revivi added.
In Hebrew, YESHA stands for Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Judea and Samaria is the biblical term for the West Bank, often used by Israeli politicians. Gaza is still included as a holdover from before Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
No comments:
Post a Comment