Just hours after news of Israel's plans to build another 1,800 homes on occupied West Bank land, Arab states asked the UN Security Council on Wednesday to re-declare Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories illegal and condemn new constructions in East Jerusalem, according to dpa. Libya, a council member and head of the Arab group in the UN, submitted a draft resolution calling on Israel to immediately stop its expansion in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. The United States opposed the demand. "For us, the criteria for an acceptable resolution which can make it to the council, is that it is balanced," said US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad., explaining that achievements or setbacks from both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts must be reflected in the draft. Khalilzad urged Arab governments to be patient and work with the council to resolve the Middle East conflict. He said the council has been "polarized" on issues pertaining to the conflict and has not been able to play a constructive role in that region. The League of Arab States urged the council to take action on the draft "soon," complaining that its previous draft resolution submitted a month ago on the same issue of Jewish settlements has been ignored. Israel's building plans reported on Israel Radio include homes in two Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem built on occupied West Bank land. Some 900 homes will be built in Homat Shmuel G', an eastern extension of Israel's controversial Har Homa neighbourhood, on Jerusalem's southern outskirts, the radio said. A similar number of new apartments will be built in western Pisgat Ze'ev, another Jewish neighbourhood on Jerusalem's northern outskirts built on occupied West Bank land. The Jerusalem municipality's Planning and Construction Committee gave preliminary green light to both projects, the radio said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed outrage over continued Israeli construction in East Jerusalem, saying they undermine negotiations which were revived late last year after a seven-year freeze in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But Israel has vowed to continue building in Jewish neighbourhoods like Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev, which it has called an "inseperable" part of the city and which it wants to keep as part of its capital under a future peace agreement. Palestinians demand East Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state.
