Special to WorldTribune.com

JERUSALEM — Israel, under pressure from the United States, has again
imposed a freeze on Jewish construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Officials said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his
government to suspend tenders for housing projects in Jewish communities in
the West Bank and most of Jerusalem.

The officials said the freeze marked a key demand by U.S. President Barack Obama, who visited Israel in March in an effort to establish a Palestinian state over the next year.

“There is an order to suspend all new projects, and existing projects
might come under review,” an official said.

Officials said the directive by the prime minister was relayed to
Housing Minister Uri Ariel in early May. They said an official announcement was expected after Netanyahu returns from his trip to China over the next few days.

On May 7, the Israeli media reported on Netanyahu’s decision. Reports
said Netanyahu pledged to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the
construction freeze would be imposed by June 2013. Since then, Kerry has
been receiving nearly daily reports of whether and where the building was
taking place.

“Most of the [housing] tenders are completed and ready to be issued at
any minute,” an official told Israel Army Radio.

Over the last few years, Israel has blocked or slowed down most housing
projects for the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. In 2010, Netanyahu, under
heavy U.S. pressure, ordered that all housing starts in Jerusalem and the
West Bank be sent for his approval.

“Since the Obama visit, there were no new announcements on new
construction in settlements, neither tenders nor new plans approved,” the
Israeli group Peace Now said.

The government refused to respond to the Israeli reports. During his
reelection campaign, Netanyahu pledged to approve the construction of
thousands of units in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“The Housing and Construction Ministry has prepared tenders that it is
interested in issuing in the settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria,”
parliamentarian Ayelet Shaked, a member of Ariel’s party, said. “They
require the prime minister’s signature, and for some reason that is not
happening. It’s a shame. There are many housing units ready to be tendered.”

For his part, Ariel warned against another freeze, including projects
approved by Netanyahu in late 2012. He said his Jewish Home Party, deemed
the third largest in the ruling coalition, would not vote for the
government’s 2013 budget unless the housing projects were approved. The
biggest project awaiting Netanyahu’s approval was for the construction of
3,500 units east of Jerusalem.

“I turned to the prime minister today and warned him that if the 2013
budget doesn’t include full funding for building projects in Judea and
Samaria, including those decided upon in reaction to the Palestinians’
unilateral statehood bid at the United Nations [this past fall] and
additional projects,” Ariel said, “Jewish Home will consider its coalition
agreement as having been violated, and won’t support the budget unless a
solution is found for the promised funds.”

  Jerusalem, Jewish Home Party, John Kerry, Netanyahu yields to Obama, orders freeze on Jewish settlement building, Uri Ariel, West Bank