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East Jerusalem Settlement Plan Deepens Rift With Washington

The Wall Street Journal
Posted on Wednesday November 18, 2009

WASHINGTON — The U.S. sharply criticized Israel’s decision to move ahead with a building expansion in East Jerusalem, underscoring the rift between the Obama administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to push forward the stalled Middle East peace process.

The U.S. has unsuccessfully lobbied Mr. Netanyahu over the past nine months to agree to a total Israeli construction freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, to underpin negotiations aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state.

Mr. Netanyahu has committed to significantly limiting new settlement activity in the West Bank but has refused any curtailment of building in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

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