FM Smith says Jerusalem building plan is ‘not helpful’

AJN STAFF

FOREIGN Minister Stephen Smith has criticised Israel’s decision to allow the building of more homes in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Jerusalem.

Speaking to <I>Sky News<P> on Thursday, Smith called the decision, made on Tuesday, a “bad” one.

“I share the view that this is a bad decision at the wrong time,” he said. “It’s not a helpful contribution to the peace process. It’s not a helpful contribution to the very hard work that’s been going on behind-the-scenes, including from the United States, to try and get Israel and the Palestinian Authority together for so-called proximity talks.”

Approval for 1600 additional houses in the burgeoning area —¬† where media reports put the average household at seven or eight people — was given by Israel’s Interior Ministry. It is controversial because the building would be beyond the Green Line, but the Netanyahu Government said it never agreed to halt construction in Jerusalem.

The approval followed closely on the heals of United States Vice President Joe Biden’s express support for new, indirect peace talks during a visit to Israel this week. That support is based on the cessation of settlement building in the Palestinian territories.

Smith said Australia continues to support a freeze on Israeli buildings beyond the Green Line, including East Jerusalem.

“Issues of settlement and East Jerusalem and Jerusalem can be part of a final agreement,” Smith said.

“What we are very, very desperate to achieve in the Middle East is a long term enduring peace where Israel has the right to exist as a state in a context of peace and security, and the Palestinian people have their own state as well, also existing in a context of peace and security.”

He said the announcement was “not helpful” in promoting the peace process.