The Obama administration summoned the Israeli Ambassador this weekend to register our objection to a proposed building project in East Jerusalem.
The United States has told Israel it must halt an East Jerusalem construction project in accordance with the Obama administration's demands for a complete freeze on settlement building, Israeli radio stations reported on Sunday.
The State Department summoned Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren over the weekend to advise him that the project developed by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz should not go ahead, according to both Israel Radio and Army Radio.
Moskowitz, an influential supporter of Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem, purchased the Shepherd Hotel in 1985 and plans to tear it down and build housing units in its place.
'U.S. tells Israel to halt East Jerusalem building'
The Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, responded by asserting that East Jerusalem is essentially part of Sovereign Israeli territory, and rejects any restrictions.
Strong stuff, and somewhat of a showdown between governments.
how will this resolve? Why is Netanyahu seeking confrontation, now? Good questions, but I would like to ask: Is East Jerusalem part of the Occupied Territories, or is it within Israel's legitimate borders? What are the policy and diplomatic consequences of this showdown?
The ISraeli PM has rejected any restrictions on ISraeli Sovereignity in East Jerusalem
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem was not a matter up for discussion, no matter the U.S. requests.
Netanyahu told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting that Jerusalem is the united capital of Israel and that all citizens are allowed to purchase property in any part of the city they choose.
This is the policy of an open city, he said, and Israel would not accept a stance that counters that civil right.
The international community considers Jewish neighborhoods in the east of the city to be settlements and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
Israel regards communities in the area annexed during the 1967 Six-Day war to be a legitimate part of the state.
Sources in the PA said that "half-solutions" are unacceptable and that Israel must completely stop construction in the settlements.
The Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam reported on Saturday that Mitchell is to inform PA President Mahmoud Abbas by phone that the U.S. administration has been unable to obtain Israel's consent to stop construction completely.
Haaretz
So the US and the PA and the EU all agree that East Jerusalem is a part of the Territories, but Israel considers it part of Israel.
Wikipedia has a good discussion of the legal status of East Jerusalem.
Since June 28 1967, East Jerusalem has been under the law, jurisdiction, and administration of the State of Israel.[11] The right of Israel to declare sovereignty over the entirety of Jerusalem is not recognized by the international community, which regarded the move as de facto annexation [12] and deemed Israeli jurisdiction invalid in a subsequent non-binding United Nations General Assembly resolution.[13] However in a reply to the resolution, Israel denied that these measures constitute annexation.[14]
In the 1980 Basic Law, or "Jerusalem Law" Israel declared Jerusalem "complete and united", to be "the capital of Israel". The new law left the bounds of Jerusalem unspecified.[15] In response, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted the non-binding Resolution 478 (the U.S. abstained), declaring the law to be "null and void" and a violation of international law. Nevertheless, in 1988, Jordan, while rejecting Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem, withdrew all its claims to the West Bank (including East Jerusalem).
The Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles, signed September 13, 1993, deferred the settlement of the permanent status of Jerusalem to the final stages of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian National Authority views the future permanent status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.[16] The possibility of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem was considered by Israel for the first time in the Taba Summit in 2001,[17] though these negotiations ended without an agreement and this possibility has not been considered by Israel since.
In a 1991 letter, United States Secretary of State James Baker stated that the United States is "opposed to the Israeli annexation of east (sic) Jerusalem and the extension of Israeli law on it and the extension of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries".[18] However, the U.S. Senate in 1990 had adopted a resolution "acknowledging Jerusalem as Israel's capital" and stating that it "strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an undivided city."[19] Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act on October 23, 1995, which declared that Jerusalem should remain undivided and that it should be recognized as Israel's capital.
So, should the US back off? Should the US press ahrder? Should we make it more difficult for US developers and philanthopies to subvert US policy by supporting building in the territories , as in the case of Irving Moskovitz?