Israel National News provides further background on prime minister Netanyahu’s apparently firm commitment to continued building in Jerusalem:
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday… went on the offense. Buoyed by virtually unanimous Cabinet support, he told Likud Knesset Members at a party meeting, “Building in Jerusalem and in all other places will continue in the same way that has been accepted in the last 42 years.”
Last week, the Prime Minister apologized to visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden over the timing of a government announcement that 1,600 new housing units will be built in the Jewish neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.
Ramat Shlomo shares the same status as French Hill, Ramot and Gilo, totally Jewish areas that are considered to be politically “untouchable”… The neighborhood is not far from the largely Arab-populated area of Shuafat, but is surrounded on all other sides by the Jewish areas of Ramot, Ramat Eshkol and Golda Meir Blvd.
The Obama government has insisted it is not imposing terms on Israel but also has been paving the ground for Israel to stop building in the restored parts of Jerusalem until a final agreement is made with the PA. However, the Arab world has stood firm that there is no ground for negotiations and that all of its claims to the Old City, eastern, northern and southern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria must be met.
Most media have roundly criticized the Prime Minister for embarrassing Biden, although the Israeli leader insisted he had nothing to do with the timing of the announcement of new homes in Ramat Shlomo.
Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been severely criticized for over-reacting and for what appears to many as gross interference in Israeli affairs.
The key phrase here is “Buoyed by virtually unanimous Cabinet support”. Prime Minister Netanyahu is ultimately concerned about his future electoral chances, not what the US President says; this point seems to have been lost on the latter.
As long as Netanyahu’s eyes are on the local political scene he can be expected to stand firm if he has local backing. Will he have it? So far the answer seems to be yes, as even the hand-wringing, left-leaning and fiercely Democratic US Jewish establishment has been shocked by the US Administration’s blatant over-reaction. In Israel, no mainstream politician can be seen as capitulating on Jerusalem and most of the country will be behind Netanyahu on this one.
Has President Obama’s team united the Israeli and pro-Israel establishment behind Bibi just as his health care reform plan has unified the far-right, the center-right and independent voters behind the Republican party? If so, he has made a spectacular miscalculation on the Jerusalem building issue.