By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israel’s Vice Premier Haim Ramon said on Sunday that parts of Jerusalem must be given to the Palestinians to avoid losing U.S. support, local daily Ha’aretz reported on its website.
According to the report, Ramon’s comments were made in response to U.S. criticism of Israeli plans to expand an East Jerusalem neighborhood.
Ramon was quoted as saying that Israel would not give up the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa in East Jerusalem, where the plan of building additional housing units was announced last week.
The plan incurred criticism from the Palestinians and Arab states. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also warned that the plan could harm a new round of peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, which began last month at the U.S.-brokered Annapolis conference.
The vice premier was quoted as saying that, “all Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, should be under Israeli sovereignty and the Arab neighborhoods should not be under Israeli sovereignty because they pose a threat to Jerusalem being the capital of Jewish Israel.”
In addition, Ramon stated that the U.S. wouldn’t support any peace plan that would give Israel all the present Jerusalem municipality, including all of East Jerusalem, as its capital.
The Israeli Land Administration had on Dec. 2 published tenders for the construction of 307 new housing units in Har Homa.
It will be the first settlement expansion by Israel after last week’s international conference on the Mideast peace process, which was hosted by the U.S. in Annapolis.
On Nov. 27, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met in Annapolis, and agreed to negotiate a peace treaty before the end of 2008 with a view to paving the way for the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
In addition, the two leaders committed themselves to uphold the peace roadmap, which is an internationally negotiated agreement that calls on Palestinians to end violence and Israelis to suspend any further construction of Jewish settlements in disputed areas.