Jerusalem, July 19 (DPA) The US has asked Israel to halt a construction project in occupied East Jerusalem and summoned Israel’s Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren for clarification, Israel Radio reported Sunday.
The issue is the latest in an ongoing dispute over Israeli construction in the occupied territories.
Israel regards East Jerusalem, which it captured in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed shortly afterwards, as part of its “undivided capital”.
The US sees East Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian land and demands that Israel halts all settlement activity there.
The radio report quoted “a very high-ranking diplomatic source” as saying that Israel had the right to build in East Jerusalem. The right was not debatable, the source said.
The unnamed source said the project had received all the necessary permits and the Israeli government would not intervene.
The project in question involves the construction of housing units at the site of the Shepherd’s Hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
