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| On Eve of Talks, More Israeli Housing Approved | |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| JERUSALEM — In a new affront to the Palestinians on the eve of resumed peace talks, the Israel Interior Ministry’s final approval of nearly 900 new apartments in a contested part of Jerusalem has been officially published, Israeli news media reported Tuesday. It was the second move by Israel since Sunday to advance housing construction in areas that the Palestinian side wants for a future state. | |
| The new apartments, in an area known as Gilo, had been approved by an Interior Ministry panel last December, but the full ministry later endorsed the plan with some revisions, and official approval was published on Monday as required under Israeli law. That news came as the Palestinians were still reacting to the announcement on Sunday by the Israeli government of new construction tenders for other parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank. | |
| An official at the Interior Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak about the issue, characterized the publication of the final approval of the Gilo units as a formality. “This was just a procedure,” the official said. In addition, the Housing Ministry and the Israel Lands Administration must still evaluate construction tenders for the Gilo housing, and groundbreaking could be months or more into the future. | |
| But the timing of the news seemed bound to inflame Palestinian passions as peace talks are set to resume on Wednesday. | |
| Arrangements for those talks have been a preoccupation of Secretary of State John Kerry, who has sought to persuade the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, that Israeli housing in contested areas should not stop the be a deal breaker. | |
| “Israel continues illegal construction in settlements throughout the occupied West Bank in all the major settlement blocs and has attempted to justify this by saying they intend to keep all those settlement blocks in any agreement anyway,” said Yousef Munayyer, executive director of The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development, a Palestinian advocacy group in Washington. “If Israel has already decided what the map is going to look like, what is the point of negotiating over territory?” | |
| Most of the world, including the United States, considers the housing expansion by Israel to be illegal and to undercut diplomatic efforts to reinvigorate the long-stalled peace process with the Palestinians. | |
| It was unclear whether the Gilo news would affect the scheduled talks, one of a number of security-related issues Israel was dealing with on Tuesday. | |
| Hours earlier, the Israeli military utilized its Iron Dome missile-defense system to defend the southern resort city of Eilat for the first time, intercepting a rocket that it said had been fired from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. | |
| The rocket attack came at the height of the summer vacation season, when Eilat is packed with Israeli and foreign tourists. Witnesses told the Israeli news media that sirens went off after 1 a.m., and that booms were heard over the city as the rocket was intercepted. | |
| Islamic militants operating across the Egyptian border in the southern Sinai Peninsula have fired rockets a few times at Eilat in recent years. So far, they have all fallen in empty spaces in and around the city, causing no casualties. | Islamic militants operating across the Egyptian border in the southern Sinai Peninsula have fired rockets a few times at Eilat in recent years. So far, they have all fallen in empty spaces in and around the city, causing no casualties. |
| An Islamic militant group calling itself Majlis Shura al-Mujahedin fi Aknaf Bayt al-Maqdis claimed credit for the attack, saying it was revenge for the killing of four of its fighters in northern Sinai on Friday, according to Israel Radio. | |
| Some news reports from Egypt at the time said that the militants had been killed in an Israeli missile strike, possibly launched from a remotely piloted drone, and suggested that the strike had been carried out in coordination with Egypt. | Some news reports from Egypt at the time said that the militants had been killed in an Israeli missile strike, possibly launched from a remotely piloted drone, and suggested that the strike had been carried out in coordination with Egypt. |
| The Israeli military and government have not confirmed or denied the reports, but Egyptian officials have denied reports of Israeli attacks inside their territory. | The Israeli military and government have not confirmed or denied the reports, but Egyptian officials have denied reports of Israeli attacks inside their territory. |
| An Iron Dome battery was deployed in Eilat last month against a background of rising tensions along the Israel-Egypt border. Militants have been attacking Egyptian forces in Sinai almost daily, and the Egyptian military has intensified its campaign against the extremist groups operating there. | An Iron Dome battery was deployed in Eilat last month against a background of rising tensions along the Israel-Egypt border. Militants have been attacking Egyptian forces in Sinai almost daily, and the Egyptian military has intensified its campaign against the extremist groups operating there. |
| Israel developed the Iron Dome system, which shoots down rockets with a radar-guided missile, with significant American financing and rolled out the first mobile units in 2011. Several are now deployed around the country, and Israeli officials say the system has proved itself, intercepting rockets with a success rate of 80 to 90 percent during periods of confrontation with Hamas-run Gaza. | Israel developed the Iron Dome system, which shoots down rockets with a radar-guided missile, with significant American financing and rolled out the first mobile units in 2011. Several are now deployed around the country, and Israeli officials say the system has proved itself, intercepting rockets with a success rate of 80 to 90 percent during periods of confrontation with Hamas-run Gaza. |
| Israel closed its small airport in Eilat for about two hours on Thursday because of what the military called “security assessments.” According to a former senior Israeli defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid inflaming tensions with Egypt, the decision to shut down the airport came after Egypt warned of a potential attack there originating in Sinai. | |
| Jody Sirota, a resident of Eilat who heads the Ministry of Tourism Information Center in the city, said that some people did not know what to do at first when the sirens sounded but that calm had been restored quickly. | Jody Sirota, a resident of Eilat who heads the Ministry of Tourism Information Center in the city, said that some people did not know what to do at first when the sirens sounded but that calm had been restored quickly. |
| “I’ve been on the beach and the promenade,” she said, speaking by telephone at about 11 a.m. on Tuesday. “People are swimming and sitting in the coffee houses. The stores are full. Everything is normal.” | “I’ve been on the beach and the promenade,” she said, speaking by telephone at about 11 a.m. on Tuesday. “People are swimming and sitting in the coffee houses. The stores are full. Everything is normal.” |
Isabel Kershner reported from Jerusalem, and Rick Gladstone from New York |