Settlement 'freeze' move to please US changes nothing

Haartez reports that Netanyahu has ordered a freeze on a plan to build 900 apartments in East Jerusalem in a move presumably demanded by the US with Obama's envoy, Mitchell, in town. But this is a freeze on plans that have not yet been implemented so this announcement will change nothing on the ground.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen a project for the construction of some 900 apartments in East Jerusalem, Channel 10 television reported late Wednesday.

The report of Netanyahu's order to freeze the project came a day after he held talks in Jerusalem with U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. Netanyahu has been under tremendous pressure from the United States to freeze all construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

According to Channel 10, The houses were planned to be built in Pisgat Ze'ev, one of several Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem built beyond the Green Line separating Israel from the West Bank.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has refused to engage in new peace negotiations until Israel completely halts construction in the city and the West Bank.

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