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US Envoy Delays Mideast Trip

   VOA News 16 March 2010
   A general view of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Sholmo

Photo: AP

   A  general view of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Sholmo, 10
   Mar 2010

   U.S.  officials  say  Mideast  envoy  George  Mitchell has delayed his
   latest peace mission to the region after Israel vowed to keep building
   in disputed east Jerusalem, despite international objections.
   Mitchell  had  planned to leave Washington Monday for the Middle East,
   but delayed his departure, leaving the timing of his trip unclear.
   The  U.S.  State  Department  says  it is waiting for a formal Israeli
   response   to  U.S.  demands  for  gestures  to  demonstrate  Israel's
   commitment to revive peace talks with the Palestinians.
   Secretary  of  State Hillary Clinton discussed the unspecified demands
   with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call Friday.
   In  that  conversation, Clinton rebuked Israel for approving a housing
   project for Jews in east Jerusalem, an area claimed by Palestinians as
   a future capital.
   Mr.  Netanyahu  said  Monday  the  government  will  keep  building in
   Jerusalem  as  it  has  for  the  past 42 years.  Israel captured east
   Jerusalem  in  the 1967 Mideast War and declared the territory part of
   its eternal capital in a move not recognized internationally.
   U.S.  State  Department  spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday Washington
   maintains  an  "unshakable"  commitment  to  Israel's security despite
   their dispute about the housing plan.
   Israel  announced  the  project  when  U.S.  Vice  President Joe Biden
   visited    the   country   last   week   to   help   launch   indirect
   Israeli-Palestinian   peace   talks   through  U.S.  mediation.   U.S.
   officials called the timing of the announcement insulting.
   The  Palestinian Authority in the West Bank says Israel must scrap the
   housing project before it enters indirect peace talks.
   Crowley  also  said  Washington is "deeply disturbed" by comments from
   Palestinian  officials  condemning Israel's rededication of a historic
   synagogue Monday in east Jerusalem's walled Old City.
   Rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas denounced the Israeli move
   as a provocation and urged their supporters to come to the Old City to
   defend its Muslim shrines.  Hamas declared Tuesday a "day of rage."
   Crowley   accused   Palestinian  officials  of  mischaracterizing  the
   synagogue  consecration  and,  called  on  them to "put an end to such
   incitement," as he put it.
   Some information for this report provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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