New apartments ready in East Jerusalem

In Jerusalem, a few Jewish families have quietly moved into newly renovated apartments in the middle of Arab East Jerusalem.

According to the NY Times, the construction of the new apartment block, called Maalot David, has many saying it could take away the idea that the area could ever serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Israel’s building of Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and West Bank territories seized during the 1967 war has been a rough ride between Jerusalem and Washington.

Most experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have imagined Jerusalem’s Jewish and Arab neighborhoods as being divided.

And with President Obama scheduled to visit this week, the government has postponed several East Jerusalem projects, making the situation in Jerusalem more complicated.

But the Jerusalem Post has been running advertisements promoting Maalot David and another new apartment block called Beit Orot.

During a tour for foreign diplomats, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said it’s all part of the plan to undermine the two-state solution. 

But Palestinian Authority’s governor of Jerusalem Adnan Husseini said that phase of colonization is very dangerous because it disintegrates inside the Palestinian neighborhoods. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, most of his leaders and the mayor of Jerusalem have all backed up Israel’s right to build anywhere in the city.

Flickr Photo by: katedubya

STORY WRITTEN BY: KURT WEISS