Israel Pushes Ahead East Jerusalem Building Plans

You can forget any peace agreements. The Israeli government feels that Obama is too preoccupied with health care that he won't make much of a stink. But if war does break out again you can bet it will get the President's attention then.

Israel is pushing ahead with a long-delayed plan to build hundreds of apartments in east Jerusalem, staking claims to land the Palestinians want for a future state and complicating already tense relations with the U.S. over its demand for a construction moratorium.

The government has chosen developers to build 486 new apartments in the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood after a yearlong delay over pricing disputes, the state-run land agency said Tuesday.

The announcement came just days after Israel approved up to 455 apartments in the West Bank. Construction plans are continuing even as Israel negotiates with the U.S. on its demand for a total building freeze in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The new buildings are to go up on the outer edge of Jerusalem's northeastern boundary and would narrow the distance between Pisgat Zeev and nearby Palestinian communities.

Jerusalem, with its sites holy to both Jews and Muslims, lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel captured the eastern sector of the city from Jordan in 1967 and immediately annexed it. The international community does not recognize the annexation or Israel's argument that Jewish neighborhoods there are not settlements.

"While the government of Israel for the sake of the peace process is willing to consider placing severe limitations on construction in the West Bank, that does not apply to Jerusalem," government spokesman Mark Regev said. "The position of the government is that Jerusalem is and will remain the united capital of Israel."

By rebuffing U.S. pressure on settlement construction, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has solidified the support of his largely hawkish coalition. But the dispute has caused unprecedented tensions with Washington, and the Palestinians have refused to resume stalled peace talks until construction stops.

And let's not forget Israel's plan to bomb Iran. A politically wounded Obama would strengthen the hand of the neocons and the pro-bombing Iran elements in the Israeli government.

The United States says it has "serious concerns" that Iran is deliberately trying - at a minimum - to preserve a nuclear weapons option.

Washington's chief envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says a recent report by the nuclear watchdog shows that Iran is now either very near or already has enough low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon.

And the Israelis army isn't squeamish about fighting a war. Even if it means killing plenty of civilians. Which only inflames the Arab and Muslim world further.

Well over half of nearly 1,400 Palestinians killed in Israel's Gaza war were civilians, including 252 children younger than 16, a leading Israeli human rights groups said Wednesday, challenging Israel's claim that most of the dead were militants.