November 17, 2009
Gibbs: Israeli housing plans dismaying
The Associated PressWhite House spokesman Robert Gibbs is voicing dismay over the Jerusalem city government's registration of plans for 900 additional housing units in a Jewish neighborhood in a part of city claimed by Palestinians.
Gibbs said in a statement Tuesday that the move makes "more difficult" the Obama administration's attempts to bring Palestinians and Israelis back to peace negotiations and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The spokesman said the U.S. also "objects to other Israeli practices in Jerusalem" including what it termed a "pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes."