During a meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman addressed the now-controversial planned construction of 900 housing units in Gilo, a southern neighborhood in the capital.

It appears with the White House opposed to the move, labeling it “settlement construction”, the European Union, United Nations and the remainder of the international community feels free, or perhaps obligated to join in, issuing their own condemnatory messages. They continue to blame Israel for hindering peace-making efforts, while the PA (Palestinian Authority) continues to sit back and enjoy, not required to really make a move, capitalizing on the latest round of one-sided American diplomatic diplomacy. 

Lieberman told Kouchner that Gilo is to Jerusalem as Herzliya is to Tel Aviv, that simple, seeking to drive the point home, that the neighborhood of over 30,000 residents is an integral part of the national capital, despite America’s objections.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)