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Israelis to begin work on Jerusalem settlements


March 17, 1997
Web posted at: 6:40 p.m. EST (2340 GMT)

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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The Israeli government said surveyors will begin work Tuesday on a new neighborhood in disputed east Jerusalem, despite warnings that the project could touch off violent rioting by Palestinians.

"The surveyors will go there tomorrow," David Bar-Illan told The Associated Press. He said "bulldozers and tractors will probably come a day later" to the hilltop known as Har Homa to Israelis and Jebel Abu Ghneim to the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said he is determined to go ahead with the project this week, even at the cost of Israel's growing international isolation and despite Palestinian warnings that they will block the bulldozers with their bodies.

"When it comes to Jerusalem, we are ready to confront anyone .. to assert our sovereignty," Netanyahu said Monday. "If we do not stand up to threats over Jerusalem, we will not stand up to threats over anything."

Israel plans to build 6,500 apartments on the site.

Bar-Illan said that efforts by both sides to arrange an immediate summit between Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were unsuccessful.

"It could not be arranged (for Monday)," he said. "Both sides are working on arranging it within the next few days."

Palestinians, Israelis take up positions

In east Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority member Faisal Husseini and about 15 other Palestinians began a sit-in near the site of the 6,500-apartment project.

"We decided we will have a tent here to watch what is going on," said Husseini. "The moment the Israeli bulldozers go to work, we will confront them, using peaceful means."

Dozens of Israeli soldiers, some in riot gear and others armed with sniper rifles, took up positions behind boulders a few yards away.

The bulldozers to be used in the project's groundbreaking were waiting about a mile from the site, their drivers waiting for orders to start the work.

Israel radio said ground would be broken Tuesday morning.

Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai also ordered troops deployed along the borders between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.

"Our working assumption is that incidents are likely to occur, even severe incidents," Mordechai said. "For this reason we have deployed our forces."

Palestinians threw stones at Israeli soldiers in some parts of the West Bank Monday to protest the construction project.

Airstrip opened for Arafat

Despite staunch Palestinian opposition, Netanyahu has repeatedly said the project will be built. Contact between Palestinians and Israelis broke off last week over the issue but was re-established during a weekend visit to Israel by Jordan's King Hussein.

Renewed talks resulted in an agreement to open an airstrip in Gaza for planes carrying Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, and further talks were to include rescheduling a negotiating session originally set to begin Monday.

Monday was the deadline to begin talks on a permanent peace accord that would define borders and address the future of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and Palestinian refugees.

Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said Monday he expected a meeting between Netanyahu and Arafat to take place later this week.

The Israeli Government also faces a number of legal moves in the courts in which Israeli peace groups are trying to prevent the Jerusalem construction project. Some of those court proceedings were expected to be heard Wednesday.

 

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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